By Sam Volz: Shakur Stevenson hasn’t given up on his dreams of becoming the undisputed champion at super featherweight despite his promoter Bob Arum letting him know that it’s a waste of his time.
It might seem annoying to the 24-year-old Shakur that his promoter Arum is doing his job by letting him know that it’s a waste of time fighting obscure champions and focusing on things that won’t increase his popularity. That’s his job.
Arum is not telling Stevenson how to throw a hook or dodge a punch. He’s just trying to help the young star not throw away a year of his career fighting two obscure champions that won’t help his popularity.
Arum of Top Rank is looking at WBC/WBO 130-lb champion Stevenson’s goal of trying to become the undisputed champion at super featherweight in practical terms.
Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) won’t make a lot of money or increase his popularity by collecting the last two titles he needs to become the undisputed champion at 130 because the boxing public isn’t familiar with these belts holders, Kenichi Ogawa and Roger Gutierrez.
It’s nice that Stevenson wants to become the undisputed champion at 130, but it’s a complete waste of time due to the last two champions being complete unknowns. Moreover, for those fights to happen, Arum would need to negotiate with Ogawa and Gutierrez’s promoters.
You can bet they’ll be asking for a lot of money for their fights because of Shakur’s popularity. In other words, Arum would need to overpay for Stevenson to collect these last two belts at 130 to become the undisputed champion at super featherweight, but it wouldn’t help him become a bigger star.
If Stevenson is going to use up a year of his career, Arum would prefer that he make more money & increase his popularity by facing fighters that both the casual & hardcore boxing fans have heard of.
Unfortunately for Stevenson, IBF super featherweight champion Ogawa and WBA champ Gutierrez are only known by the hardcore fans. The casuals have no idea who these champions are, and they’re not popular.
I want to and I will but since Iām not Loma Bob think undisputed is played out š https://t.co/zTgijT14SQ
ā Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) May 15, 2022
Rather than Stevenson putting energy into trying to become the undisputed champion at 130, he should move up to 135 and take on these well-known fighters:
- Devin Haney
- George Kambosos Jr
- Ryan Garcia
- Gervonta Davis
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
“F*** being the unified champion. Screw that. There’s not a person in this room that knows the WBA champion or the IBF champion. So who wants to put those fights on? They’re not going to draw s***,” said Bob Arum on the idea of Shakur Stevenson becoming undisputed champion at super-featherweight by defeating IBF champion Kenichi Ogawa and WBC champion Roger Gutierrez.
