Promoter Bob Arum states that free agent Shakur Stevenson won’t be in demand by the top promoters Eddie Hearn and Al Haymon.
Eddie Hearn’s Financial Constraints
Arum says he spoke to Matchroom promoter Hearn, who told him that he wouldn’t be able to pay WBC lightweight champion Shakur the kind of money that he was getting for his promotional company Top Rank.
The legendary promoter Arum says Al Haymon isn’t looking to add new fighters to his PBC company because he doesn’t have enough dates to fight, and many of them are leaving.
“The problem is, he won’t be because I talked to Eddie [Hearn] in England, and Eddie said, ‘I ain’t going to pay him the money you guys pay him,’” said promoter Bob Arum to Cigar Talk about his view that Shakur Stevenson won’t be highly sought by other promoters now that he’s a free agent after his contract with Top Rank expired.
You can’t blame Hearn for not wanting to pay Shakur the money that Arum has because he already has another fighter with the same style as him, Richardson Hitchins, and he’s failing to gain popularity. The last thing Hearn needs is to sign Shakur, deal with his low ratings, and be avoided by other top fighters.
Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) doesn’t have the fan base for to bring in big numbers like Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, so he’s not going to be able to command the money he would want as a free agent.
Interestingly, despite Stevenson’s lack of popularity, dull fighting style, and poor future outlook, Arum still wants to re-sign him to his Top Rank company with a new contract. It’s unclear if Arum hopes that Shakur will one day turn into a gold mine like Floyd Mayweather Jr. did with his boring fighting style.
Mayweather’s fighting style was safety first and non-entertaining, yet he gained a lot of interest from fans and became a big-money star. Could it be that Arum thinks Shakur can become that type of fighter?
Like Mayweather, Shahkur will never be a crowd-pleaser, and he could be turned into a star without being entertaining if enough fans enjoy his amateur fencing style take interesting.
Al Haymon’s Roster Saturation
“I don’t think Al Haymon [of PBC] is looking to add any more fighters,” said Arum. “Many of his fighters are leaving because he doesn’t have the dates. So, Shakur is between a rock and a hard place. He’s a very good fighter, and I love promoting him.
“I encourage him to go out in free agency and look at other possibilities, and if there’s nothing better, he should come back to us [Top Rank] if he was the kind of fighter that was a big draw like Tank Davis, who has no problem fighting anybody because he brings to the table hundreds of thousands of fans.
“Shakur, because of his style, doesn’t. He’s a great fighter, but he doesn’t have a tremendous following. So, to get a level A fighter to fight him, they say, ‘Why? We’re going to have a tough time beating him if we can ever beat him, and what does he bring to the table?’ That’s the problem in boxing.
“He wants to fight Lomachenko. Now, that would be a great fight, but when everything is laid out for Lomachenko, and he has the opportunity to [either] Shakur or Tank Davis, he’s going to make a hell of a lot more money fighting Tank Davis,” said Arum.
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