Shakur Stevenson Proves His Greatness

New York, New York – Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) proved his greatness Saturday night with a dominant performance over Teofimo Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs).

A record crowd of 21,324 witnessed Shakur’s masterclass performance at the historic Madison Square Garden arena. Stevenson held Lopez to a career low, 72 punches landed in 12 rounds.

Teofimo struggled to find the target all night, landing only 15.4 percent of his total punches, and only 7 percent of his jabs connected. Stevenson was masterful defensively and offensively, landing 44.4 percent of his total punches. Essentially defeating Teo with his jab, landing 105 of them. Which amounts to more than Lopez’s entire offensive connect rate of 72 (Compubox).

Shakur’s dominant performance will elevate him among the elite in the sport after this career defining victory. He’s now a four-division champion at the age of 28 and in due time could potentially become champion at welterweight.

When looking at the list of fighters in the 140- pound division or lower, it raises the question, is there anyone that could truly challenge him? Gervonta Davis is the first name that comes to mind, but with his boxing future being uncertain, it could be some time before we see him back in the ring.

Other than Davis, there are few who could pose a challenge. After his victory, Chris Mannix asked Shakur about what big fight would keep him at 140 or above? Shakur said, “Hold up, hold up, there’s a fighter right here right now, and he motivated me too. Where’s Conor Benn? Hey, Conor Benn, we can get it banging, boy. We can get it banging, boy. I want the same rehydration clause that you put on Eubank Junior, and I wanna fight.”

Conor Benn then got into the ring, beginning an exchange of words between the two. They went back and forth, stating what they would do to each other in a potential fight.

At the post-fight press conference, Eddie Hearn was asked about a potential match between Shakur Stevenson and Conor Benn. Hearn responded by saying, “Conor Benn would have a massive challenge on his hands, but he’s up for anything. I want to see Conor Benn win a world title. He also faced off with Rolly Romero tonight, which is a great fight for the welterweight division. Conor Benn will fight anybody; I have no fear in that.”

It appears Hearn is maneuvering Benn towards a world championship fight against Rolando “Rolly” Romero, who holds the WBA welterweight title. A fight with Shakur would only materialize if there was a rehydration clause in the contract. Shakur was adamant about it when he was asked about it at the presser.

“If he’s not going to agree to it, then we probably don’t fight. So, he’s just wasting time. We’ll see, but I’m a businessman at the end of the day. Like I said, he did a rehydration clause with Chris Eubank. Chris Eubank was in the ring, half dead. Why can’t he do the same thing?”

Conor Benn appears unwilling to add a rehydration clause to the contract and stated yesterday during an Instagram livestream that, if Shakur wants one, he would have to pay for it. It appears as though, for now, Stevenson will not go up another division. He’s demonstrated his brilliance in the four divisions he’s competed in thus far. His greatness will only grow from this point forward.