Shakur Stevenson wants a catchweight handicap or Ryan Garcia to come down to 135 for them to fight. Yesterday, Ryan (23-1, 19 KOs) said he wanted to fight the “arrogant” Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) to put him in his place due to bad-mouthing he’d been doing.
Shakur says he’ll be ready to fight Ryan Garcia next. If that’s the case, what about Shakur’s injured shoulder & hand that his promoter & ESPN had been talking about? Was he injured in his recent fight with Edwin De Los Santos?
Stevenson, who recently captured the vacant WBC lightweight title, took to social media to accept Ryan’s fight offer, saying that he would “stand in front of you all night long” and not run like he’d done against Edwin De Los Santos on November 16th.
Later, Shakur changed his tough talk, saying that he needed a catchweight handicap or for Ryan to come down to 135 for the fight between them to take place.
Shakur thinks he can call the shots with the A-side fighter Ryan after winning the WBC lightweight title. Ryan Garcia has 11 million Instagram followers, which makes him the far more popular fighter of the two. In contrast, Shakur has 1.2 million followers on Instagram. That’s not good enough, is it?
We could do a catch weight or he can come to 35 if he want to finally become a world champion lol https://t.co/0IHBhAeUWP
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 29, 2023
We could fight next weak ass nigga @RyanGarcia I’m gone stand in front of u all night long I promise
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 28, 2023
Whenever Ryan fights, he advertises to his huge fanbase, and many of them tune in to watch him, and they’re willing to pay to see him on PPV. Boxing has changed dramatically, with social media coming into play. It doesn’t matter if a fighter has captured three three-division world titles, as is the case with the 26-year-old Shakur.
Achievement has nothing to do with it. What’s important is how popular a fighter is on social media, and Shakur is in last place regarding a fight with Ryan.
That doesn’t matter. Holding the WBC belt or having captured division world titles at 126 & 130 doesn’t do anything for Shakur because he’s a paper champion, and his past world title victories came against weak competition.
Shakur’s three-division world title wins:
- Edwin De Los Santos: WBC 135 lightweight belt
- Jamel Herring: 38-year-old fighter that Shakur beat for the WBO 130-lb belt
- Oscar Valdez: WBC 130-lb title
- Joet Gonalez: WBO 126-lb belt
“He’s so arrogant that it’s to the point where I got to whoop his a**. That’s a guy I want to whoop his a**,” said Ryan Garcia on Brian Custer’s YouTube channel, talking about Shakur Stevenson.
“I’m whooping his a** to the point where he can’t run with me. If he’s not going to throw no punches, what do I have to worry about?” said Ryan about Shakur. “This mother f**** is going to be running.”
