Shakur Stevenson sounded defiant during Tuesday’s final press conference, hinting that he will be fighting his usual safety-first manner against Edwin De Los Santos on Thursday night and that he doesn’t care what the fans or media want in terms of seeing an entertaining style.
(Courtesy: Mikey Williams/Top Rank via Getty Images)
Hopefully, Shakur (20-0, 10 KOs) changes his mind and chooses to make it exciting for the fans because if he chooses to play it safe all by using his pull-back, his jab, potshot & clinch, fans will be bored to tears.
With Shakur’s contract with Top Rank expiring after his next fight, which he’s made it crystal clear that he wants the promotional company to produce Vasily Lomachenko for that contest, he could shoot himself in the foot and not be offered an extension.
Top Rank has several exciting go-getters in the form of Raymond Muratalla, Lomachenko, and George Kambosos Jr.
If Shakur fails to entertain the boxing fans by fighting in an exciting manner, Top Rank wouldn’t need to keep him around because they’re well-staffed at 135.
Shakur sounding spoiled
Regarding Shakur’s demand for Top Rank to give him Lomachenko in his next fight. It sounds like he’s putting pressure on them to give him the Lomachenko fight, or he won’t sign an extension and will move on to another promotional company.
Shakur doesn’t care what media & fans think of him
“I’m coming from the trenches. I’m just as hungry as he is being from the Dominican Republic. I respect him for it, but I’m hungry too. I want this bad. This is all I think about,” said Shakur Stevenson to Fight Hub TV.
“I know when he gets his free time, he looks like he gets fat and gets big. When I get my free time, I’m in the gym working,” Shakur continued.
Shakur is hardly a fighter that comes from the trenches. He’s always been a pure boxer from day one, a fighter who relies on movement and his defense to win fights. He’s not an expert in trench warfare.
Stevenson is more of a fighter who skedaddles from the trenches, heading toward the safety of HQ.
“When I got home, I want to be satisfied with my performance. I don’t give a f**k about what y’all should expect or want. I think I am. I think this is the hungriest I’ve ever been,” said Shakur.
See what I mean? Look at that attitude that Shakur has. Does that sound like someone who wants to entertain the fans?
“I think the stakes went up. The bigger fights are getting closer. This is a big fight for me right now,” said Shakur. “I think only boxing. That’s all I think about. I didn’t expect him to be as small as he was because I never seen this dude before.
“He called me out on social media. This is my first time actually seeing him in person. So when I seen him, I realized how short he was and little. He didn’t look as big as I thought he was going to be.
“He could be the nicest guy, but once I get in the fight mode, it’s kill or be killed. What the f**k do I care about what Edwin [De Los Santos] say?” said Shakur when told that De Los Santos says that he should have accepted the 75-25 offer from former undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney,” said Shakur.
Stevenson wants Lomachenko next
“This is his first big fight. Edwin has got to prove himself on Thursday,” said Shakur. “Right now, I’m starting to understand why Tank treats you the way he treats y’all.
“If I go in and smoke Edwin, they’ll say, ‘He was a bum. He wasn’t that good.’ They’re going to talk s**t regardless. I don’t give a f**k what anybody else has to say. I think that all that matters is what I think about myself, and what people around me think. I think that’s the most important thing,” said Stevenson.
Shakur has a negative attitude toward fans and how they’ll perceive a his vision of a victory over De Los Santos. If Stevenson believes he won’t receive credit, why did he agree to fight him? It was his choice.
De Los Santos is Shakur’s baby. He could have said no, and they would have found someone else. They should have just worked down the list until they found someone he liked.
However, the further they went down the list, the less likely Shakur would have gotten someone that fans & the media would have respected.
If Shakur really cared about receiving credit from fans, he could have picked Raymond Muratalla, and he’d received a boatload of praise if he beat him. With that said.
The look on Shakur’s face when Muratalla’s name was mentioned to him said it all. It’s like he was shot by a paralyzing dart in his hindquarters and was ready to be tagged. It was clear that Shakur wanted no part in fighting Muratalla, but that’s not surprising.
After all, what do you expect from a fighter who turned down an offer to fight for the undisputed championship against Devin Haney?
“Worry about things you have control over, and honestly, I don’t have control over that situation,” said Shakur when asked about the gate for his fight with De Los Santos at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I’m locked in and focused. What I care about the most is going in there and handling business on Thursday night.
“I think if it does happen, it’s some trifling a** s***t because Lomachenko said he was taking the year off, and I got one more fight left with Top Rank. I think me and Lomachenko should square off for the last fight. But right now, my focus is on De Los Santos on Thursday night.
“Every option is an option for me. Whoever wants to talk business, we’re going to talk business. But Top Rank has been good to me. So, I would definitely sit down at the table with them and talk again,” said Shakur when asked if he could leave Top Rank once his contract is up after one more fight.
“I don’t know, maybe,” said Shakur when asked if he could fight Emanuel Navarrete next if he can’t get Vasily Lomachenko. “Like I said, I think that’s a distraction fight. I said that yesterday. I think they’re trying to distract me from the fact that I’m supposed to be fighting Lomachenko next.
“I feel as though if Lomachenko were to say that he was taking a year off, and now he’s ready to come back, I’m the champion after this fight. Let’s get it on.
“I don’t know about that,” said Shakur when told that Bob Arum said that Top Rank has a lot of other good lightweights to match him against besides Lomachenko if he’s unavailable to fight,” Shakur said.
Stevenson says De Los Santos will be wreckless
“Edwin De Los Santos is Thursday night. That’s the fight,” said Stevenson. “This is a hungry fighter. He’s coming in to win. I can feel the energy when someone is coming in to try and beat me. I don’t know about any of that other stuff. All I know about is Edwin De Los Santos.
“This is how I think he’s going to play it. He may do something different. I think he’s going to come out, try to box, and once he realizes that don’t work, he’s going to get wreckless and try and do whatever he can to come out victorious. It’s just not going to work. It’s going to work against him.
“I told him that he was little, and he was ready to show his s**t, but I was letting him know I’m in shape too,” said Shakur when asked what De Los Santos said to him during their face-off.
“He wanted to lift his s**t up to show that he’s in shape. Okay, I’m in shape. I’ve been training for too long. I hear you, bro, but I’ve been in the gym forever. All that matters is how I come in on Thursday night and how he comes in on Thursday night.
“I’m not looking for weakness or staring into his eyes to try and see if you [scared]. I’m not going to find that out like that. I’m going to find out on Thursday how his preparation was, and is he in the type of shape that I’m in, and the main thing it’s going to come down to how skillful he is.
“He’s talking about me, but there’s a lot of questions that he needs to be answering right now. Nah, I’m trying to fight him. If I grab his sunglasses off his face. Then he tries to retaliate, and then I got to retaliate. That’s a fight right there for no reason. Nah, it ain’t that deep.
“I want to fight on Thursday and get my check,” said Shakur about him not wanting to start a fight with De Los Santos outside of the ring.
