By Brian Webber: Shakur Stevenson admits that he’s heard about the enormous punching power of the southpaw Edwin De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KOs), but he’s not concerned.
De Los Santos has the kind of power that could prove to be kryptonite for Shakur if he can land, which could be difficult for him to do.
#1 Shakur (20-0, 10 KOs) will deal with it the best he can next month when he battles De Los Santos for the vacant WBC lightweight title on November 16th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event will be shown live on ESPN at 10:30 p.m. ET.
On the undercard, WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete defends against Robson Conceicao.
Stevenson is facing De Los Santos because champions Devin Haney, Frank Martin, Vasily Lomachenko, and William Zepeda opted not to take the fight with him, which is his situation. Until Stevenson becomes a bigger name or is shown to be vulnerable, he’s going to be ignored.
It’s not that Shakur is being avoided; rather, he’s not worth fighting due to his defensive style and lack of popularity. He’s not a runner, but close to it.
The style that Shakur has isn’t appealing to many fighters because they’re forced to pursue him around the ring to land shots.
Shakur aware of De Los Santos’ power
“The camp is going great. I’m feeling good, I feel sharp, I feel ready to fight. I
expect him to come prepared and ready to fight,” said Shakur Stevenson to ESPN Knockout, talking about his opponent Edwin De Los Santos on November 16th.
“He’s going to try his hardest, and he’s probably to come in shape. So I’m expecting a good fight, but he’s got to go against me, and when he sees me across that ring, let’s see how he deals with that,” Shakur continued.
Of course, De Los Santos is going to try his hardest because he wants to capture the vacant WBC lightweight title. After all, with that belt, it’ll open the door for bigger fights against Frank Martin, George Kambosos Jr., and possibly Gervonta Davis.
“He’s definitely strong in the beginning of the fight. I hear people talking about his power, but I don’t go off of like what I hear everybody else say,” said Shakur. “I kind of go off of like what I see in the ring, and if I go in there and he feels strong, we’re still going to get the job done. “So it won’t change anything.”
It would be a good idea for Shakur to listen to what the people are saying about De Los Santos’ power because they’re not joking. He can punch, and if he catches him clean, it could end badly for Shakur.
What’s important is that Shakur doesn’t run around the ring like he did in his fight with Jeremiah Nakathilia because he took a lot of abuse from fans for the way he fought. Watching that performance from Shakur was beyond boring for fans and not ideal for becoming a star.
“It’s inside my blood, so that’s who I am as a person and as an individual, but nah, I didn’t have my father coming up. So I really didn’t really know that other side of my family, but like I said, I’m always willing to learn.
“Now I’ll be talking with my brother & my sister, so we’re planning a trip to Puerto Rico. We’ve been planning it for a minute,” said Shakur.
Haters don’t bother Stevenson
“I don’t mind. I think it comes with the game. I think a lot of the greats in the past had to deal with a lot of haters and a lot of people saying that they weren’t who they said they were,” said Stevenson about having a lot of critics/haters.
Shakur shouldn’t get things twisted in his head. He’s not one of the greats, and the way he fights isn’t anything like the stars in the past. The greats in the past weren’t criticized as much as Stevenson is now because they were more entertaining to watch than him.
If the 26-year-old Stevenson wants to become great and receive less criticism, he needs to fight more like these fighters:
- Sugar Ray Robinson
- Roberto Duran
- Sugar Ray Leonard
- Marvin Hagler
- Muhammad Ali
Those fighters were a lot more aggressive on offense than Shakur and were willing to stay in the pocket to make it exciting for fans.
“Honestly, those people don’t know me., and those people are not with me through my everyday life. They’re not with me in the gym when I’m training and when I’m working. They just go off of what they think and what they feel.
“We’re going to see. I can’t give out no details yet, but I’m definitely going to have a fun walkout,” said Shakur when asked who will walk him out for his November 16th fight against Edwin De Los Santos at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“Yeah, Thursday night. We’re going to make Thursday night great again,” said Shakur about his fight with De Los Santos.
