By Sam Volz: Shakur Stevenson feels he won’t have any problems getting the top fighters in the 135-lb division to face him once he becomes a pay-per-view attraction.
Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) says all he needs to do to make the transition to becoming a PPV star is keep winning and selling out arenas.
Top Rank will need to work extra hard after last Saturday to find opponents willing to fight Shakur because the promoters aren’t going to want their fighters to get beaten by him.
For now, Shakur may put the fear in the likes of undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney, WBA secondary belt holder Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, and Ryan Garcia with his sixth-round TKO victory over Shuichiro Yoshino (16-1, 12 KOs) last Saturday night in their WBC lightweight title eliminator at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Haney, Tank, and Ryan aren’t going to want to wind up in the same boat as Yoshino and be made to look silly by Shakur.
Losing like that could hurt their earning potential because boxing fans would remember a loss like that and would be less likely to purchase their fights on PPV.
Predictably, Haney will steer clear of Shakur if he beats Vasily Lomachnko on May 20th and will make a try for the Tank vs. Ryan winner.
Top talents at 135 for Shakur to target:
- Gervonta Davis
- Devin Haney
- Ryan Garcia
- George Kambosos Jr
- Keyshawn Davis
- Isaac Cruz
- Frank Martin
- William Zepeda
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Jamaine Ortiz
- Gustavo Lemos
“Pressure don’t get to me. It used to get to me, but now I feel like I’m at home,” said Shakur Stevenson to the media last Saturday night. “I know I put in a lot of work. I had an eight-week camp, a lot of miles. I trust in my training.
“I knew everything was going to be okay, so I trusted, and I had fun tonight. Put me anywhere on earth, and I’m coming out victorious,” said Stevenson.
“I had to start watching out for his hook because he can crack,” said Stevenson about Yoshino. “He got some good power, so I had to be aware of his hook and not catch me with noting clean.
“No, I’m not worried about it because once I’m that big pay-per-view superstar, they’re all going to jump in line for a paycheck. They’re all going to want to be under the bright lights and want to be in the big moments with me.
“I’m not worried about it. I just got to stay focused, keep selling out arenas, and doing what I’m supposed to do.
“It was over. I knew it was over in my brain,” said Shakur about the thoughts that went through his head after he dropped Yoshino for the first time in round two.
“It was a matter of time and picking the right shot. I didn’t want to get too sloppy. At times, I started to wing certain shots and miss. Once I saw I was missing, I decided to relax a little bit and set it up.
“They wanted me to stay on my defense. They didn’t want me to get hit. They saw me get hit a couple of times, and they wanted me to stay on my defense,” said Shakur when asked what his corner was saying to him during the fight.
