Shakur Stevenson should look distinctive in his headliner struggle on PPV towards Joe Cordina on October twelfth on the Kingdom Enviornment in Riyadh.
WBC light-weight champion Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) is headlining for the primary time in a $14.99 undercard occasion on pay-per-view at 27, and there’s strain on him to be entertaining and herald a number of PPV buys.
Questionable Matchmaking
That is the incorrect opponent for Shakur to struggle on PPV to create curiosity in a unification struggle subsequent 12 months with Baltimore native Gervonta Davis. The opponent that Shakur wanted to struggle was #1 WBC William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs), not former IBF tremendous featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs), who’s coming off an eighth-round knockout loss on Could 18th towards Anthony Cacace.
Zepeda’s coach, Jay Najar, stated in an interview this week that they needed to struggle Shakur in November, and so they had been shocked with the information that he’d signed to defend towards Cordina on October twelfth.
In hindsight, maybe Shakur wanted extra time to organize for the struggle towards Zepeda. That man is on one other stage offensively and pressure-wise than anybody the New Jersey native has fought within the execs or the amateurs.
Shakur appeared able to have a nervous breakdown in his struggle towards Edwin De Los Santos final 12 months on November sixteenth from the way in which he was stalking him across the ring, punching holes by him at any time when he’d nook him. Zepeda is superb at slicing off the ring towards runners like Shakur, and he would get to him, however the consequence wouldn’t be fairly.
The numbers are vital as a result of if this goes incorrect, it might have an effect on Shakur’s means to get a positive deal for a unification struggle towards WBA common champ ‘Tank’ Davis in 2025.
Shakur and his new promoter, Eddie Hearn, goal for that struggle subsequent 12 months, however they received’t get the purse break up they’re hoping for if Stevenson’s struggle with Cordina is a PPV catastrophe on October twelfth, which many imagine it is going to be.
Low-level Undercard Doesn’t Assist
There’s no demand from U.S. followers in a Shakur vs. Cordina struggle, and the undercard is completely slanted towards the UK public, not for the Individuals. They don’t wish to see these uninteresting fights:
– Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szceremeta
– Ben Whittaker vs. Liam Cameron
– Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke
– Jai Opetaia vs. Jack Massey
– Skye Nicholson vs. Raven Chapman
– Mohammed Alakel vs. Jose Gonzalez
Hearn could lose curiosity in Shakur and select to not re-sign him after his fights towards Cordina and Zepeda. The British promoter will know if Shakur is somebody who can develop into a worldwide star after these two contests.
Shakur’s Limitations Uncovered
U.S. followers can already see that Shakur lacks the offensive expertise and bravado to develop into even a neighborhood star, not a worldwide famous person like Hearn is relying on.
It’s unclear whether or not Hearn actually believes he can flip Shakur into a worldwide star or if he’s simply chirping these items, solely wanting to construct his replenish among the many naive followers for the sake of a cash-out towards Tank Davis.
As soon as Shakur will get the mega-payday struggle towards Gervonta that he’s been whining about and is evaporated immediately, Hearn will wash his arms of him and transfer on to a different fighter he can pump up with pretend hype.
Hearn has a vulture-like means to identify fighters he can pump up for cash-outs. Edgar Berlanga is one instance.
Hearn could push laborious to make the Tank vs. Shakur struggle occur subsequent quite than after Stevenson faces Zepeda as a result of he received’t wish to take the prospect of dropping towards the Mexican fighter. All that cash Hearn paid Shakur will go down the drain with out the massive Tank Davis cash-out.
If I had been Hearn, I might neglect concerning the Zepeda struggle and deal with making the Tank-Shakur unification occur subsequent as a result of Shakur received’t beat the Mexican fighter with out controversy. Zepeda is all incorrect for Shakur and would take the judges out of play for a struggle between them.
