Promoter Eddie Hearn was pouring it on thick, praising Shakur Stevenson by comparing him to Sugar Ray Leonard during Thursday’s final press conference for Shakur’s fight against Josh Padley this Saturday, February 22nd, in Riyadh.
The Wrong Comparison
The comparison to Sugar Ray was hard to take seriously because the 27-year-old Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is nowhere near that type of talent. It’s not even close. Leonard was a far greater talent than Stevenson could ever hope to be. He wouldn’t have played the victim card if he couldn’t get fights in a weight class like Shakur has been doing at 135. If Leonard had the same issues, he’d move to another division. Leonard was NEVER boring to watch. His style was always entertaining, and that’s why he made a lot of money during his career.
By the time Sugar Ray was Shakur’s age, he’d already fought Roberto Duran x 2, Tommy Hearns x 2, Marvin Hagler, Wilfred Benitez, Dave Boy Green and Donny Lalonde. If Stevenson were a Leonard type of talent, he’d have done a lot more with his career. He’s not.
Shakur is just a simple belt holder, nothing more. He’s defending his WBC lightweight title against replacement opponent Josh Padley (15-0, 4 KOs) this Saturday on Turki Alalshikh’s card at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. The event will be shown live on DAZN PPV.
Shakur doesn’t say whether he gave the green light to Padley being selected as his replacement opponent after Floyd Schofield suffered an illness and was pulled out of the card. If Stevenson is like this era’s version of Sugar Ray Leonard, why is he still fighting lesser guys like Padley and Artem Harutyunyan? Shakur will be turning 28 in June.
“I think greatness is a fantastic word for Shakur Stevenson. As a young man that is already a three-division world champion, I believe this is a guy who can go down the footsteps of quality, like a [Sugar Ray] Leonard, like a Pernell Whitaker, like a Mayweather,” said Eddie Hearn during Thursday’s final press conference for Shakur Stevenson’s title defense against replacement opponent Josh Padley this Saturday night in Riyadh.
“For me, this is one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters on the planet now. There’s so much more for him to give. He’s not even scrapped the surface in terms of his ability and his quality and the legacy he will produce in the sport,” said Hearn.
