Shakur Stevenson has produced a post on social media that indicates that he wasn’t feeling good the night of his fight with Edwin De Los Santos last Thursday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In the post, the Top Rank-promoted Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) said that he wasn’t feeling well, but he would go for it to get the win against De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs).
The excuses that Shakur’s promoter, Bob Arum, gave about him having an injured shoulder and from ESPN about an injured hand don’t agree with each other. Was Shakur injured in more than one place or simply not feeling good? It doesn’t sound right.
Shakur saying he didn’t “feel that good” could mean any number of things; possibly, he was frightened, knowing that his career would go up in smoke if De Los Santos landed one of his huge shots. It could also mean that Shakur was sick, injured, or had a headache.
Given the way Shakur fought, stepping back three feet when De Los Santos would come forward, it’s generally believed that he was paralyzed with fear. That’s the most likely explanation, considering that Shakur has fought the same way when facing formidable opposition.
We’re to believe this post was made last Thursday before his fight with Edwin De Los Santos that night. The post was sent at 8:27 p.m. on the night of the fight with Santos, and the message fails to prove anything.
Shakur avoids direct responsibility for performance
“Ion [don’t] feel that good bae, but if I gotta jump in my bag and get the win, I’m going to do that,” said Shakur Stevenson on social media.
The message could either indicate that Shakur was badly hurt or that he was flat-out scared out of his wits, knowing that he was going up against the big puncher De Los Santos, who could end his rise to stardom with a single shot.
It’s weird for Shakur to post as if he were trying to prove his innocence to absolve himself of his poor performance against De Los Santos after the fact.
Shakur looks weak coming up with this excuse because he’s fought like this before in many fights. This was an identical performance to his fights with Jeremiah Nakathilia and Robeisy Ramirez, easily the best guys he’s fought in the last seven years.
With all the bragging that Shakur has done about himself in the past and the fact that he’s a 2016 U.S Olympic silver medalist, more was expected from him in his fight with De Los Santos, as well as in his boring performances against Nakathilia, Valdez, Joet Gonzalez, Jamel Herring, and Robson Conceicao.
Lol I said that today they hate u so the forgot about the last three already😂🤣😂
— Vernon Davis (@sameolvee) November 20, 2023
