By Adam Baskin: Edwin De Los Santos put the coward label on Frank Martin & Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz today for failing to accept a fight with #1 Shakur Stevenson for the vacant WBC lightweight title.
#6 De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KOs) has already bravely accepted the fight with Stevenson (20-0,10 KOs) and will be facing him for the WBC 135-lb title on November 16th on ESPN+ in Las Vegas.
Some boxing fans believe that the reason #2 WBC Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) turned own the fight with Stevenson is that he’s going to be getting a big payday title shot against WBA ‘regular’ 135-lb champion Gervonta Davis next.
But if that fight doesn’t happen, the 28-year-old Martin may have hurt his career because he’s not young enough to hang around for three to five years, waiting for another opportunity.
Frank Martin won’t be able to get fights against the likes of Vasily Lomachenko, Devin Haney, or George Kambosos Jr. If De Los Santos captures the WBC title, he’s not going to throw a bone at Martin for what he views as cowardice for not facing Shakur.
Earlier today, De Los Santos posted an image of him & Shakur hunting ducks, with Edin holding a duck with Pitbull Cruz’s head photo-shopped in a duck’s body in his arms. Shakur holds Martin’s head with a duck’s body in his arms.
Cruz has arguably been avoiding risky fights since his loss to Gervonta Davis in 2021 and is saving himself to be blessed a second time by the Baltimore native.
Whether Pitbull Cruz gets that fight with Gervonta, only time will tell. But even if Isaac had no hope of getting a rematch with Tank, he still likely wouldn’t accept a fight with Shakur because of the high probability of him losing.
De Los Santos said this about Cruz & Martin on Instagram:
“@shakurstevenson Since these two cowards @frankmartin.2016 and @isaacpitbullcruz refuse to fight the best, I guess is up to us to get it popping.”
The big punching southpaw De Los Santos will be the underdog against Shakur, but with his one-punch, he’s got a chance of pulling off the upset.
Shakur must be on his bike all night because if De Los Santos catches him with one of his left hands, he’s sending him down.
While Shakur is a great defensive fighter, he’s not unhittable, and he’s human and can be hurt like anybody. We saw how Shakur lost to Cuban Robeisy Ramirez in the 2016 Olympics by running from him the entire fight. After the fight, Shakur was in tears over his loss, but he only had himself to blame for fighting so timidly.
The big six that step up
Devin Haney
Frank Martin
Isaac Cruz
William Zepeda
George Kambosos Jr.
Vasily Lomachenko
Edwin De Los Santos and Shakur Stevenson taking aim at Frank Martin and Isaac Cruz on Instagram today… pic.twitter.com/E29jYnCFf4
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) September 15, 2023