WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will return to Newark, New Jersey, on July 6th to defend his newly won 135-lb title at the Prudential Center. Shakur recently retired after failing to attract the interest of any big names.
Stevenson wanted to fight Vasily Lomachenko, Emanuel Navarrete, Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis. Unfortunately, Shakur’s last performance against Edwin De Los Santos hurt his chances of getting any of those fighters.
For Stevenson to get the big fights, he’s got to adopt a more fan-friendly style of fighting because the way he fights now is pure poison, and the top fighters want nothing to do with him because he’s a runner.
Opponent Still Under Wraps
The dangerous puncher #2 WBC Raymond Muratalla (19-0, 16 KOs) is rumored to be Shakur’s opponent.
However, Shakur quickly denied that it was him on social media, which some saw as a signal that Stevenson wanted nothing to do with this hard-hitting talent because he didn’t perform well against hard punchers. Shakur gets jumpy when he faces punchers, as they tend to throw him off his game.
After the 26-year-old Shakur’s bad experience in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena against Edwin De Los Santos, he’s returning to New Jersey. Some believe that Shakur was driven out of Las Vegas by his poor showing and the low ticket sales for T-Mobile.
Of course, Shakur’s highly mobile, defensive-oriented approach to fighting that night didn’t help, as the Las Vegas crowd booed him from start to finish.
Even in the post-fight interview, Shakur continued to be booed by the T-Mobile crowd, who let him know they didn’t approach his fighting style.
The Prudential Center Advantage
Shakur will receive more support returning to their home turf at the Prudential Center, so they’ll tolerate him if he chooses to play it safe against whoever Top Rank digs up for him to fight. For Shakur’s sake, he needs to stay in the pocket, mix it up, and resist the urge to run around the ring.
Shakur’s promoters are trying to turn him into a star, but they can’t do that if he’s going to fight scared like he did against Edwin De Los Santos.
Top Rank had to know what they were getting when they signed Shakur, considering he fought this way in the 2016 Olympic finals against Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez, and the crowd hated that performance as well.
