The video of the moment Shakur Stevenson injured his right hand was released, and it shows him throwing a harmless-looking punch to the body of his sparring partner before falling to the floor in agony after it landed.
Is this a pre-existing injury?
The video raises many questions about whether Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) had been dealing with injury problems with his right hand long before this week’s episode. Shakur appeared to be wearing large 16-oz gloves during the sparring, and the punch he threw, as light as it was, should not have resulted in an injury. What this could indicate is Shakur is already having problems with that hand.
We know that Shakur excused a hand injury for his performance against Edwin De Los Santos last November. This suggests that Shakur has brittle hands and may have further problems that could limit his effectiveness against the talented fighters in the lightweight division.
Shakur’s overly defensive style since moving up to the 135-lb division last year could be a direct result of his hands being too brittle to compete in this weight class.
The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur, 27, has likely discovered that he’s not physically capable of generating the power needed to compete with the dangerous top-rung fighters in the lightweight division. His fragile hands can’t hold up in this weight class at 135 without falling apart.
That’s bad for Shakur and disastrous for promoter Eddie Hearn, who recently signed him to a two-fight deal with his Matchroom company. Hearn has sounded like a gleeful schoolboy, talking about turning Shakur into a “Global superstar” and wondering why his previous promoters couldn’t make him a household name.
Shakur’s injury this week was a rude awakening for Hearn, and it puts his career in question. Weak hands at 135 translate to pure trouble for Shakur if he follows Hearn’s vision of him fighting William Zepeda in early 2025 and Gervonta Davis in the summer. Those two would walk through the weak punches from Shakur to knock him out quickly.
It’s good for Hearn that he only signed Shakur to a two-fight deal because he wouldn’t have to worry about losing money in his fights if he’d inked a long-term deal with Matchroom.
Shakur won’t go far in the lightweight division with glass-like hands because he’s not Floyd Mayweather Jr, and he can’t get by with cherry-picking soft opposition for him to get the easy paydays. To make money at 135, Shakur must face the dangerous guys, and he can’t beat them with his brittle hands.
He almost lost to Edwin De Los Santos last November. If you go back and watch that fight, one can make a case for De Los Santos being robbed. That guy is nowhere near as talented as Tank Davis and Zepeda.
