By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is expecting to see a war on Saturday night when WBO super featherweight champion Jamel ‘Semper Fi’ Herring defends against unbeaten Shakur Stevenson. Hopefully, Arum’s right about it being a war because Stevenson’s last fight was anything but a war.
That was more like a full-scale retreat from the battlefield by Shakur once he got a taste of Jeremia Nakathilia’s power.
Stevenson was booed and really given grief from the fans at the Virgins Hotels Las Vegas, who wasn’t appreciative of his running.
(Credit: Mikey Williams (Top Rank via Getty Images)
All week long, Stevenson (16-0, 8 KOs) has been acting like the win is already in the bag against Herring (23-2, 11 KOs) for their bout on ESPN at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Stevenson doesn’t view Herring as being a problem for him to scoop up his WBO belt and take over as the new 130-lb champion.
For the most part, Herring has stayed calm and not let Stevenson’s brash personality get to him, but he’s had to draw the line a couple of times when the young upstart tried to snatch his WBO strap off his shoulder.
I don’t know why Stevenson would want to take the WBO belt when he hasn’t earned it yet, but that’s how he operates I guess. It just seems like Stevenson has got it backward in his head.
You don’t take the champion’s belt BEFORE the fight. That’s like test driving a car and driving away without paying for it.
Herring – Stevenson = War
“I have no idea but it’s going to be a real battle,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to FightHub TV when asked what kind of fight we’ll see on Saturday night between Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson.
“I know Jamel because that’s the way he can win the fight because he’s going to pressure Stevenson and it’s going to be a battle. It will not be a chess match. I predict that. It will not be a chess match with two guys boxing and occasionally throwing a punch.
“It’ll be a serious testing of each guy’s balls,” Arum said of the Herring – Stevenson fight. “Listen, how can it be the fight of the year? Anything is possible after what we saw two weeks ago. How do we beat the Fury – Wilder fight that we just saw?” said Arum.
I hope Stevenson comes to fight on Saturday night because he’s going to get picked apart Herring if he chooses to hit & run as he did against Nakathilia,
If Stevenson is going to be the star that Arum is hoping he will, he’s got to stay in the pocket and give the fans their money’s worth.
“Because Atlanta is a big sports town,” said Arum when asked why Herring vs. Stevenson is taking place in Atlanta on Saturday night.
“Atlanta is becoming one of the top sports towns in the United States, whether it’s college football, professional football, basketball, baseball with the Atlanta Braves. It’s one of the major sports towns in the country, so why wouldn’t we come here?
“The people in Atlanta love sports. So now in boxing, whether it’s Mayweather’s company or ours, we’re taking advantage of it by taking events down to Atlanta,” said Arum.
