Shakur Stevenson says Ernesto Mercado is just “clout-chasing” by calling him out and trying to get attention by challenging him to a fight.
(Credit: Melina Pizano/Matchroom)
The unbeaten Matchroom-promoted light welterweight prospect Mercado (17-0, 16 KOs) looked deadly serious, calling out Shakur following his impressive fourth-round knockout win of former two-division world champion Jose Pedraza (29-7-1, 14 KOs) last Saturday night on Eddie Hearn’s event at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Shakur looked uncomfortable from his ringside seat at Mercado, calling him out. His body language suggested that he wanted no part of fighting this guy. Mercado is an entirely different fighter from the WBC lightweight champion Shakur, who will defend against Floyd Schofield on February 22nd in Riyadh.
Weight Class Excuse
“There’s a way it can be a mistake. If it gets real ugly in there, people aren’t going to want to watch him again. They’re not going to want to see him again,’ said Shakur Stevenson to iFL TV when asked if it’s a mistake for the 22-year-old Floyd Schofield to take this fight against him so early in his career. “In their brain, they think it’s a win-win, but it’s not. I don’t think so.
“I don’t know him. I don’t have too much to say about him,” said Shakur about being called out by 23-year-old light welterweight prospect Ernesto Mercado. “He fights at 140-lbs. What are we talking about? It’s called clout-chasing. They say the biggest names to get people to tune in to get eyes, clicks.
“Clout-chasing. He’s a clout-chaster. I don’t give a f*** about him. People like him are lame, You’re at 140 and calling my name out to get views. If a contract comes across your desk, will you even fight me?”
It sounds like Shakur is worried about fighting someone who is a true threat to him and far more dangerous than Floyd Schofield. Mercado isn’t clout-chasing. He actually wants to fight Shakur, and he made it clear that he wants Keyshawn Davis and Richardson Hitchins, too.
Mercado’s Rebuttal
“I talk, and I back it up. I’m from Pomona. We talk and we lay it down,” said Ernesto Mercado to Fighthype, discussing the trash-talking he did to Shakur and other fighters at the press conference. “That’s the way I do it. If you don’t like it, I can be the bad guy or the good guy, but no matter what, I’m going to get the results that I want.
“Nah, he was mumbling too much. He’s got to speak clearly when you talk to me,” said Mercado when asked what Shakur had said to him from the crowd when he called him out last Saturday night following his knockout win of Jose Pedraza.”
Shakur looked worried in the audience when Mercado called him out after the fight. He knew this guy had a lot of power and would be dangerous to him.
“If I got his attention, that means I did something right. If I get him in the ring later this year and knock his a** out, too, that’ll be great for me. Whether it’s Richardson Hitchins, I’ll come and take the belt from him, it don’t matter to me. Any of the champions, whoever comes first, that’s what I want.
“Hopefully soon because I got Pedraza out in four. So, I still feel fresh. Light work. That’s why I was trying to throw Shakur up there, but he didn’t want to. He was right there in his little jumpsuit,” said Mercado.
Shakur will never fight Mercado because he knows what will happen. He chose to use the weight division excuse to hide from Ernesto, not wanting to mix it up with him. There are only five pounds that separate the 135 and 140-lb divisions. So, for Shakur to say that Mercado fights in a different weight class than him tells you that he’s afraid.
Shakur has already fallen apart physically since moving up to lightweight in 2023. He has suffered hand injuries from trying to load up on his shots, as he doesn’t have the power for this division to keep his opponents off him.
