Eddie Hearn thinks Shakur Stevenson might be “unbeatable.” The Matchroom promoter can’t wait to signal the unbeaten WBC light-weight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) to his steady and work his match-making magic to rework him right into a star.
Hearn’s Imaginative and prescient for Stevenson’s Stardom
Hearn hasn’t mentioned who he desires to start scheduling Shakur to battle if he efficiently negotiates a deal to signal him as a result of his steady at 135 consists of 2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz, and he seemingly would beat him.
That’s not the kind of opposition Shakur is dreaming of preventing, and so they wouldn’t wish to lose instantly in a non-PPV contest.
“Shakur Stevenson could also be unbeatable. Shakur is sensible. Typically, his model is just not all-out aggressive, Arturo Gatti, however guess what? He’s successful these fights, preventing them the way in which he desires to battle,” mentioned Eddie Hearn to Secondsout.
Shakur’s preventing model at 135 is safety-first as a result of they punch tougher and greater than the opposition he’s been feasting on at 126 and 130. When Shakur fought in these weight lessons, he had a dimension benefit over his opponents, permitting him to take their pictures and rating occasional knockouts.
At 135, Shakur can’t afford to battle aggressively towards these fighters as a result of they hit too exhausting, and they’d knock him out. He’s a fish out of water at light-weight, so he’s compelled to field greater than he ever did within the different weight lessons.
Dream Fights
“I feel if you see him battle Tank, possibly even Zepeda, you’re going to see the very best Shakur Stevenson,” Hearn mentioned. “I do know I could make him a star as a result of that’s simple for me.”
Hearn seemingly gained’t try to match Shakur towards #1 William Zepeda till after he places him within the cash battle towards Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. As soon as that battle is out of the way in which and Shakur seemingly soundly crushed, Hearn may pull the set off on the Zepeda.
I doubt it, although. Hearn might want to rebuild Shakur as he did with Anthony Joshua after his second defeat towards Oleksandr Usyk. He’ll match Shakur towards three or 4 stiffs, construct his confidence, create pretend hype, after which push for a rematch with Tank Davis. In different phrases, it’s rinse and repeat. It’s simply enterprise.
“He charges extraordinarily nicely on ESPN. As I perceive it, it was a extremely good crowd in Newark,” mentioned Hearn in regards to the 8,000+ followers that confirmed up for Shakur’s battle towards Artem Harutyunyan final Saturday night time. The venue holds 18,000. So, there was not fairly a half-full capability for Shakur-Harutyunyan in Shakur’s hometown.
It’s tough to take Hearn’s “unbeatable” feedback significantly, on condition that Shakur barely beat Edwin Del Los Santos final yr on November sixteenth, successful a twelve-round unanimous determination by the scores 115-113, 116-112, and 116-112.
The extra correct rating of the three was 115-113, and that ought to have gone the opposite approach in De Los Santos’ favor as a result of he landed the tougher punches in each spherical and was the one pushing the battle towards Shakur, who was working from him.
This gamble might not finish nicely for Hearn if he indicators the 27-year-old Shakur, believing he’s going to construct him right into a “star” on the world stage, promote his fights on PPV to followers, pondering they’re going to fortunately buy them to observe him run across the ring all night time.
Shakur performs keep-away in his fights, and that’s not star materials and positively not a fighter that’s “unbeatable.”
