Tim Bradley says fans who view Shakur Stevenson as a boring fighter are from the “younger generation”, which is influenced by new technology, social media, and MMA.
“Short Attention Spans”
Bradley labels them as having “short attention spans” and demands to be entertained by seeing exciting knockouts. They have no patience for the fighters practicing the sweet science, using the arm of ‘hit-and-not-get-hit.’ The sport has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, and fighters that use Stevenson’s hit-and-run style aren’t positioned on main cards because they’re booed.
Networks don’t want to see boring fighters because it’s bad for their ratings. In Shakur’s case, it’s not enough that he posts 24/7 on X, comes across like a textbook example of a narcissist, and is promoted by Eddie Hearn. He’s still so boring to watch and hasn’t fought a fighter with power since he was booed out of the T-Mobile Arena in his clash against Edwin De Los Santos in 2023.
Stevenson’s promoters know better than to put him in with a puncher since that fight. The latest thing they want to do is match Shakur against a fighter with power and watch him get booed out of the venue. That’s clearly why Stevenson was matched against the weak puncher Josh Padley last month on February 22nd rather than the powerful Cuban Jadier Herrera (17-0, 15 KOs).
The real truth is that fans note that WBC lightweight champion Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) goes out of his way not to get hit and will run across the ring when his hard-punching opponents attempt to land.
Fans don’t want to see that junk style; it’s not like there are so many other things they can do with their time. If they pay to watch boxing on DAZN with the monthly subscription, they don’t want to watch a fighter like Shakur, who refuses to engage.
Generation Divide
“The younger generation back then didn’t have the UFC. Now that they have that, and they have technology, a lot of people have short attention spans,” said Tim Bradley to Fighthype about why the younger generation dislikes the way Shakur Stevenson fights.
“They love knockouts. The other things the commentators. We want the product to be hot, and we want the ratings to be high. You have to entertain. A lot of people don’t want to watch Shakur because they don’t understand the sweet science. They don’t understand the skill level.
“I’m also saying, ‘Damn, I hope I don’t go to sleep,'” said Bradley about when he calls one of Shakur’s fights as a commentator. “You have the fans out there that like to see fighters take risks, and you have the fans out there that like the sweet science.”
