By Jeff Aronow: Shakur Stevenson says he doesn’t want to move up to lightweight division because his goal is to stay at super featherweight and unify the division by beating Oscar Valdez and the other champions.
If Stevenson wants to become a star, he’s NOT going to achieve that goal staying at super featherweight, beating the likes of Shavkat Rakhimov, Roger Gutierrez, and Oscar Valdez.
Stevenson could waste years
It’s fair to say that Stevenson will waste years of his career trying to unify against the champions at 130 that won’t do much to increase his popularity in the long run.
By the time Stevenson does unify the 130-lb division, he’ll be nearing 30, and he won’t be a star.
There’s not enough incentive for Stevenson, 24, to invest three to four years attempting to unify the super featherweight division unless there’s some ulterior motive on his part to stay in that weight class.
If Stevenson lacks the self-confidence to compete with the talent North of 130 at 135, it makes sense for him to stay at super featherweight to avoid losing to the talented fighters at lightweight.
Stevenson won’t come out ahead, staying at 130, spinning his wheels trying to unify against no-name champions that the casual boxing fans have never heard of before.
Look at Canelo Alvarez. He’s invested three years of his career trying to become the undisputed champion at 168, fighting little-known weak champions repeatedly and not coming out ahead.
The U.S boxing fans care less about Canelo’s goal of becoming the undisputed champion at super middleweight, and they’d rather see him fight talented opposition like David Benavidez. Shakur is falling into the same trap as Canelo, focusing on unifying a division that won’t increase his popularity.
Is Shakur Stevenson AFRAID of moving to 135?
Stevenson’s dogged assistance at remaining at 130, a division he has almost no chance of unifying. This suggests that there’s fear on his part of moving up to 135 [lightweight] and risking his unbeaten record against talented opposition against these talents:
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Devin Haney
- Ryan Garcia
- Richard Commey,
- Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
- Teofimo Lopez
By now, Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) must know that he’s not going to quickly get a unification fight with WBC 130-lb champion Oscar Valdez and likely not the other champions in the division. To be specific, Stevenson
“Get him up to lightweight now because we’ve got opposition who are at the top of the tree themselves,” Nick Peet said to JABS on DAZN.
“Imagine Stevenson with the fast hands of Ryan Garcia, imagine Stephenson with the technical attributes of a Devin Haley, imagine Stevenson with the all-round game of Lomachenko has got, imagine Stevenson, with his nasty sting and ‘I’m trying to knock you out’ shots that Teofimo Lopez has also got.”
“He’s got ingredients of them all mixed together in one big pot. Let’s get them up there now. And let’s set fire to not just the lightweight division, but all of boxing.”
There’s no question that Shakur is better off moving up to lightweight where he would be mixing it up with Lomachenko, Tank Davis, Teofimo, and Haney.
Of course, if Stevenson lacks the courage to move up to lightweight, it makes sense for him to stay at 130, playing it safe against the obscure opposition in that weight class.
It’s safe for Stevenson to stay at super featherweight because the opposition is weaker and smaller than at lightweight.