Shakur Stevenson – ‘My hand is good, Doctors cleared me’

By Boxing News - 06/11/2020 - Comments

By Max Seitelman: After an impressive performance this week on ESPN, Shakur Stevenson says his injured hand has been checked out by a doctor, and he’s cleared to fight. In Stevenson hurt his left hand in his sixth-round knockout win over Felix Caraballo (13-2-2, 9 KOs) last Tuesday night at The Bubble, in the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

Shakur being cleared to fight is good news, as his promoters at Top Rank have big plans for him shortly.

Stevenson showed off his talent in dropping Caraballo twice with body shots en route to halting him in round six in a fight behind closed doors. Caraballo was down in rounds one and six. This was an excellent performance for Stevenson in the return of boxing after the lockdown.

The bodywork is what got Stevenson the knockout in the fight, as he wasn’t able to dent Caraballo’s chin he went to the head with his punches. Like his mentor Andre Ward, Stevenson is a better body puncher than he is when going upstairs to the head.

If the 22-year-old Stevenson is unable to improve his power as he gets older, then he’s going to need to use the smothering style of fighting that Ward employed late in his career when his mobility dropped off.

Image: Shakur Stevenson - 'My hand is good, Doctors cleared me'

Shakur had Caraballo hurt in round one

Caraballo looked hurt after being dropped with a body shot in the first round by Stevenson. If Stevenson had poured it on at that point with additional body shots, he would have gotten the 33-year-old Caraballo out of there. Caraballo took a knee and then got back up to make it out of the round.

Stevenson wasted his opportunity by head-hunting too much after the knockdown. He didn’t realize at the time that Caraballo had an excellent chin on him, and he wasn’t going to be knocked out with any of his head-shots.

In rounds, two through five, Stevenson, 22, continued to land stinging jabs and power shots. Stevenson’s jab wasn’t quite as powerful as it needed to be for him to cause Caraballo problems. He was throwing it lazily, and it didn’t do as much damage as it could have been if he had been sitting down on it. That’s a training issue that Stevenson needs to fix.

In the final seconds of round five, Stevenson hurt Caraballo with a beautiful left to the head. As that round ended, it is evident that fight the fight was going to be stopped in the sixth round. Caraballo was taking too much punishment, and either his trainer or the referee needed to stop it.

In the sixth, Stevenson hit Caraballo with a hard left to the body that sent him down in a delayed reaction. Caraballo made a lot of noise after he went down, and you could hear him sounding hurt.

Arum predicting superstardom for Stevenson

It’s good that Stevenson’s hand didn’t sustain a bad injury because he could be back inside the ring soon for a big fight at 126, possibly against IBF champion Josh Warrington or a match at 130. The battle that a lot of fans want to see at super featherweight is Stevenson against WBC champion Miguel Berchelt. That’s a fight that could be the one that turns Stevenson into a star if he can beat the 28-year-old Berchelt (37-1, 33 KOs).

Image: Shakur Stevenson - 'My hand is good, Doctors cleared me'

Although Stevenson-Caraballo was from being a huge fight, it was still entertaining for fans with a lot of action and punches thrown by both fighters. Top Rank did a excellent job of finding a suitable opponent that could test Shakur a little bit.

“What a magnificent performance by Shakur Stevenson,” Arum said. “He keeps getting better and, rest assured, he is a future pound-for-pound superstar.”

It may take Stevenson a while before he becomes a superstar if Arum doesn’t put him with the right opposition.

Look at Terence Crawford as an example of a fantastic fighter that hasn’t been able to leap to stardom because he hasn’t put in with the right opponents. After 12 years, Crawford still hasn’t branched over to that of a star.

Arum is calling Shakur a future superstar isn’t going to make him a big name. Stevenson needs to be put in with the right opposition.

For Stevenson to realize his star potential in a hurry, Arum needs to match him against these fighters:

  • Miguel Berchelt
  • Oscar Valdez
  • Jamel Herring
  • Leo Santa Cruz
  • Gary Russell, Jr.
  • Joseph’ Jo Jo’ Diaz

Shakur needs to face better opposition

Arum probably won’t put Stevenson in with Herring, Valdez, and Berchelt because he promotes them. If Arum matches Stevenson against all three guys, he would be ruining some of his revenue streams.

At best, we’ll see Stevenson fight one of those guys, and that’ll likely be Berchelt because he’s arguably the best of the three.

Even if Stevenson beats Berchelt, the Mexican talent will be able to come back from it to capture other world titles. It won’t be the end of Berchelt’s career if he loses to Stevenson. With Valdez and the 34-year-old Herring, they’re not in nearly as good a position to bounce back from a loss to Stevenson.

The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Stevenson has been compared to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by some boxing fans, and he’s opened up the eyes of a lot of fans with his performances.

“He will be one of the major, major stars in boxing in the years ahead,” said Arum about the southpaw Stevenson.

Again, just talking about Stevenson becoming a star in the future doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. Arum will need to do his part by putting Stevenson in with substantial opposition.

It won’t work if Arum chooses to match Stevenson against fighters like IBF 126-pound champion Josh Warrington. Stevenson must fight guys that U.S fans are familiar with and interested in seeing. Warrington is only known in the UK, and he’s not worth much as an opponent for Stevenson if he wants to become a star in the United States.

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