Shakur Stevenson must look good tonight in his fight against Artem Harutyunyan for many reasons, starting with his looming free agency.
(Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
Free Agency and the Quest for a Lucrative Deal
Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs), the WBC lightweight champion, wants to be offered a great deal with a major promoter, like Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, but he won’t get the offer he wants if he fails to impress.
Harutyunyan (13-1, 7 KOs) could make things difficult for Shakur to win and look because he won’t knock him out without standing in front of him.
Targeting Harutyunyan’s Weakness
Shakur indicated at the weigh-in on Friday that he’s going to target Harutyunyan’s midsection, which is an area where Frank Martin found his greatest success last year in their clash in July 2023.
Stevenson also wants a unification fight against WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis because he feels that fight is winnable and will turn him into a PPV star.
If Shakur, 27, gets that fight, he might win, but only if he fights in the same hit-and-run manager he did against Edwin De Los Santos.
Davis Fight Unlikely Next
“That’s the fight [Gervonta Davis vs. Shakur Stevenson] that we all want, but you got to focus on the guy in front of him. It’s not about winning. Yeah, we all assume he’s going to win this fight,” said boxing expert Chris Algieri to Probox TV about Shakur Stevenson’s fight tonight against Artem Harutyunyan.
Shakur isn’t going to get a fight against Tank Davis next, no matter how good he looks tonight. Tank’s management wants the unification fight against IBF champion Vasily Lomachenko in November.
If Tank wins that fight, there’s a possibility of a rematch with Lomachenko and then a second fight with Ryan Garcia. A rematch between those two would be far bigger than one involving Shakur, who is nowhere near as popular as Ryan.
Shakur might have to wait until 2026 at the earliest for a chance to fight Tank Davis, but that’s assuming he isn’t beaten by one of the contenders like William Zepeda, Raymond Muratalla, or Abdullah Mason.
Need for a Statement Victory
If Edwin De Los Santos came close to beating Shakur, those guys would have an even greater chance.
“Looking good matters. It’s not about winning or losing. It’s how good he can look. Artem was saying [at the weigh-in]. ‘Everybody wants you to lose,’ and Shakur was like, ‘I know, but I’m coming for you. It’s not going to happen.’ He [Shakur] goes, ‘I’m going right there [Harutyunyan’s body]. I hope you did your situps.’
“I think Shakur is going to go out there and try to get Artem out of there. I think that would be a really big statement if he’s able to stop him, whereas Frank Martin did not. Frank Martin actually struggled with Artem late,” said Algieri.
Shakur almost has to try and knock Harutyunyan out to show fans that his last poor performance was just a fluke thing. Again, Stevenson needs to impress to get a big offer from one of the other promoters.
Limited Options with Matchroom
I’m not sure that Matchroom will help Shakur achieve his end goal of getting the Tank Davis because they have no control over him. All they can do is offer him a fight against Andy Cruz at lightweight, which would be a hard fight for him and the 140-pounders they have. None of them are popular.
If Shakur signs with Matchroom, he could be limited to these fighters: Liam Paro, Andy Cruz, Richardson Hitchins, Regis Prograis, Jack Catterall and Subriel Matias.
“He’s a tough guy. He’s the type of guy stylistically that can really make Shakur look good. I think Shakur should take this opportunity to make a statement with the rest of the lightweights because he’s in a position right now where that big fight, that mega-fight, that end-goal type with Tank Davis is within reach,” said Algieri.
I don’t think Harutyunyan can make Shakur look good. He looked good against slow fighters or ones without power. Harutyunyan has enough speed and power to keep Shakur from dominating him like he did in his first fight at 135 against Shuichiro Yoshino.
He did not look good against De Los Santos, Robson Conceicao, Oscar Valdez, and Jeremiah Nakathilia. Fans found those fights boring, and Shakur spent much of the time on the run.
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