By Mark Eisner: Former WBO featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson looked like a chiseled Michelangelo statue weighing in at 129.6 lbs for his weigh-in for his fight this Saturday night against knockout artist Jeremiah Nakathila at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Nakathila (21-1, 17 KOs) weighed in at 129.4 lbs. The interim WBO super featherweight title will be on the line.
(Photo credit: Mikey Williams (Top Rank via Getty Images)
When the two fighters came together for the face-off, Stevenson was jawing at the taller Nakathila, trying to intimidate him.
During Thursday’s final press conference, Shakur said he saw fear in Nakathila’s eyes and thinks he’s “afraid” of him. Whether Stevenson’s observations will affect the outcome of the fight is unclear. Stevenson also said that he’d never let a “cop” beat him after learning that Nakathila is a police officer in Namibia.
Historically, fighters who show fear fight just as hard as those who don’t show fear, so there’s much you can take away from one fighter looking scared.
If this was speech class, it might favor Stevenson that Nakathila looked nervous during their face-offs, but boxing is a different story.
Nakathila looked considerably thinner and dried out compared to the 23-year-old Shakur. One possible reason for that is because Nakathila has been fighting at 130 for many years, and he’s dropping weight.
In Stevenson’s case, he’s been fighting at featherweight and only recently came up to 130. Therefore, Stevenson is almost fully rehydrated and didn’t have to take off much weight to make the 130-lb limit.
Stevenson’s final words to Nakathila
“I told him to shut the f*** up,” said Shakur Stevenson to Fighthype when asked what he told Jeremiah Nakathila during their face-off.
“I’m going to put on a show. Tune in tomorrow night. I’m going to put in an amazing performance. I put the work in during training camp, and it’s all going to come through,” said Stevenson.
What’s kind of a letdown is Stevenson is saying that he doesn’t want to challenge WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring, next if he’s victorious on Saturday. Stevenson wants to go directly to the big cheese WBC champion Oscar Valdez to challenge him for his title.
Official weights:
- Shakur Stevenson 129.6 lbs vs. Jeremiah Nakathila 129.4 lbs
- Jose Pedraza 139.8 lbs vs. Julian Rodriguez 141.4 lbs
(ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT)
- Tyler McCreary 131.6 lbs vs. Manuel Rey Rojas 131.6 lbs
- John Bauza 140 lbs vs. Christon Edwards 140.4
- Xander Zayas 147.4 lbs vs. Larry Fryers 144.6
- Bryan Lua 131.4 lbs vs. Frevian Gonzalez 131.8
- Troy Isley 156.8 lbs vs. LaQuan Evans 156
- Kasir Goldston 142 lbs vs. Maurice Anthony 142
- Jahi Tucker 146 lbs vs. Ysrael Barboza 146.4