The WBC champion in the lightweight category Shakur Stevenson has a lot of pressure on him to look impressive tonight in the victory of Josh Padley at the Royal Arena in Riyadh. This is not someone against which Shakur (22-0, 10 ko) can afford to fight against if she does not want to be mocked fans More than it is already. If Shakur runs away from this guy tonight, it’s over. His career will never be the same.
Stevenson told Padley on Friday that on Saturday they would be in their fight in their “A **”. If he escapes from Padley as he did against a dozen of his past opponents, he will show the fans what this is about.
What if he fails?
Realistically, Stevenson needs a knockout from Padley (15-0, 4 ko) to get out of this fight without a stock fell. It’s one of those fights where you can’t get anything because Padley is not a 10 -level fighter. He is just a British level fighter who chose his promoter, Eddie Hearn. Shakur needs a knockout within six rounds to get out of this fight.
This struggle is more critical of Shakur because Hearn wants to establish a “biggest fight in boxing” and further against Gervont Davis. He would look silly by pushing for that fight if Stevenson struggled tonight and leaves his way to a boring decision in 12 rounds.
Hearn needs Shakur to look like 24k gold against Josh so he can go to Turki Alalshikh and ask for his help in lubricating Tank Davis to fight him. Without Turks, Hearn has no hope that he will put together that fight. He will not empty the boxer chest of boxer to think of the dough to draw Gervont to face Shakur in a fight that is unlikely to cover the costs.
Shakur is not a PPV draw, and Tank had only one fight during his 12-year career against Ryan Garcia. Fans who bought the event are probably Ryanin’s followers of Instagram Ryan. Shakur is not popular on social media like Ryan.
Because of this, it is crucial that Shakur looks great tonight. He is a smaller fighter, who would be expected to destroy if it is worth sharing the ring with a thin one. Shakur is obviously not what Hearn says he is. Not a pound for a kilogram #1 or one of the best fighters in sports. He is just a defensive guy, with 90% of his game defense and only 10% of insults.
For Hearn to sign Shakur on just a contract with two fights, he says a lot. I would do the same. I would sign Shakur on a short contract, aligning him with the opposition of flakes to look good, and then strive hard to fight tanks. That’s where I would make a profit. After Shakur loses that fight, I would sign it again because it will be exposed, and it would cost it too much money.
Last time updated 22.02.2025