Shakur Stevenson took to social media today to fire back at his critics, telling them they can’t “break” him following his struggle against Edwin De Los Santos last Thursday night.
Although Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) said he had no excuses immediately after the fight, today, he changed his tune, blaming his performance on not being “100%” for the contest.
Perhaps it would have been better if Shakur, 26, had just kept quiet because the fans on social media were buying his excuse, considering he’d fought the exact same way in his fights with Jermmiah Nakathilia and Joet Gonzalez.
Shakur put 99% effort into his defense, stepping back when De Los Santos would attempt to land a punch. When De Los Santos would get in punching range, Shakur would wrap him up in a bearhug to keep him from throwing. Each round was a repeat of this process.
Shakur is defiant, and says fans can’t break him
“This fight slows down his process, and I don’t want to call him a pay-per-view star to becoming a star in boxing,” said Shawn Porter to Probox TV, talking about Shakur Stevenson after his off-performance against Edwin De Los Santos last Thursday night.
Wasn’t 100 percent tonight no excuses but anybody wit 2 eyes know the real but look.. One day they wit u next day they hate I love it 21-0 see y’all next time out, Oh yeah if u don’t wanna watch don’t fucking watch Y’all can’t break me and a bad night don’t make me 💪🏾
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 17, 2023
It’s not the fans that will ultimately break Shakur. It’s the promoters who will steer clear of him due to his boring fighting style. Moreover, the judges, who saved him last night by giving him a win he didn’t deserve won’t continue to do so.
Shakur needs to take ownership and admit that he’s not an exciting fighter and was afraid of getting clipped by the powerful De Los Santos.
“He was a rising star, and this star came down a little bit. But if he had given us something to talk about after the fight, he probably could have continued on that trajectory,’ said Porter, believing that Shakur could have talked his way out of persuading fans that he was better than the way he looked.
“We haven’t seen Shakur in seven months. He had a bad performance. Bad performances happen in boxing, especially when you’re not feeling the best, especially when you’re not 100%,” said Tim Bradley, sending like he’s carrying the water for Shakur, making excuses.
“Look at Shakur’s track record after he fought [Jeremiah] Nakathilia [in 2021]. I criticized him there; the fight was boring. Do you think he wanted to have another boring fight? I don’t think do.
“Sometimes you get put in a situation where you get an injury in practice. You do, but it’s at the wrong time. It’s two weeks before the fight date. You don’t want to call and cancel the fight, with everyone saying that you’re this or you’re that. ‘Oh, he didn’t want to fight De Los Santos.’
“Maybe that’s what he should have done by calling the fight off so he doesn’t have this type of performance. If you’re sick, it doesn’t matter. You still got to get in there and find a way to win, and Shakur did that. He found a way to win.
“I was talking about his defense all night. Just a quick step back out of range,” said Bradley.
Is it De Los Santos’ fault the fight was so dull?
“Most people aren’t smart enough to catch that,” said Paulie Malignaggi, sounding like he’s auditioning for a gig with ESPN, praising house fighter Shakur. “He’s winning the fight with his mind.
“A defensive fighter [Shakur] isn’t going to suddenly come out of his shell when he’s fighting a big puncher [De Los Santos] like this. De Los Santos comes in with a good knockout record. That’s not a guy that you want to take your chances with. ‘I want to experiment tonight by being more exciting.’ Not against a guy with almost all knockout wins.
“De Los Santos didn’t cut off the ring. He didn’t throw the punches. He bought everything that Shakur was selling him, so that made him not throw punches when he should have.
“Shakur would slide away, and De Los Santos wouldn’t cut off the ring,’ said Malignaggi, continuing to heap praise over the head of Stevenson for his gift decision. “There were moments where De Los Santos got so frustrated that he just stood in center ring while Shakur slid away.
“Dude, what are you doing? You’re losing the fight. What are you standing in the center of the ring for? Are you waiting for him? I can’t just put it on one guy,” said Paulie.
“De Los Santos should have been trying to push buttons. You can’t buy everything. You have to start making deposits of your own,” said Shawn Porter, blaming De Los Santos for the boring fight rather than Shakur with his pull-back style.
“You have to have the makeup of wanting to be aggressive and wanting to attack and go after someone. When we saw that Edwin not doing that, part of that is it’s not his style. We saw that it’s not in his make-up to go and get it. That’s what people want to see. In order for this sport to live, we need fighters that are going to go get it,” said Porter.