Bruce Carrington, an unbeaten featherweight contender, roasted Shakur Stevenson today in an interview over his failure to take chances to entertain fans against an opponent, Artem Harutyunyan, who gave him no push-back on July 6th.
Harutyunyan posed no threat, yet Shakur treated him like a knockout artist that he had to be wary of.
That didn’t play well with Shakur’s hometown fans at the Prudential Center in Newark. They booed him, and many began heading to the exits in the eighth round. They’d paid to see Shakur perform and chose to leave early.
Interestingly, Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) didn’t accept Carrington’s (12-0, 8 KOs) valid criticisms, even though they were similar to those Terence Crawford had made.
Shakur didn’t mind hearing the truths from the former three-division world champion Crawford but took issue when they were made by Carrington, who hasn’t accomplished anything in the pro game yet but is headed towards stardom.
“Me as a fighter and as a spectator, I would have wanted to see him do more. He could have done more,” said Bruce Carrington to Sean Zittel’s YouTube channel, talking about how Shakur Stevenson should have done more to entertain in his fight against Artem Harutyunyan on July 6th.
I don’t think Shakur can change the way he fights without breaking him as a fighter, resulting in him getting knocked out and taking losses that would end his career.
He’s incapable of standing his ground and fighting unless it’s someone slow and weak, like Harutyunyan and Shuichiro Yoshino. At 27, Shakur is the finished product, and won’t change. He’ll always fight the way he does now.
If anything, it’ll get worse with more defensive tactics when he starts going up against talented fighters like Gervonta Davis or Vasily Lomachenko.
“I don’t feel like his opponent was giving him that much of an obstacle, that much of a push-back,” said Carrington about Shakur. “I expected more from Shakur in terms of his offense. I’ve seen more from him. That’s why people were kind of upset at him from how he performed.”
Shakur’s fight against Edwin De Los Santos last November may have affected him mentally, scaring him more because he took some big shots in that fight. He didn’t get hit with many, but enough to make him more defensive-minded than ever, which will always be there now.
Any promoter that signs Shakur needs to be cognizant that this is as good as it gets with him, and he won’t develop into an entertaining fighter. This is how it’s going to be with him. If Eddie Hearn inks Shakur to a long-term contract, he may be kicking himself later when he turns out to be a huge disappointment.
Once the hand speed and reflexes start deteriorating, Shakur, in his 30s, he’ll likely begin suffering knockout losses and will find himself on skidrow, dumped by his promoters.
“I expected more from him, and everybody expected more from him,” continued Carrington about Shakur. “I just feel like at this point if you’re fighting a certain level of guys in your hometown, why not show up for the fans? Why not take some chances? That’s what I would do.”
Many people expected more from Shakur against Harutyunyan, given that it was his last fight with Top Rank. He was fighting in front of his hometown fans, and he was facing a weak puncher who was coming off a loss to Frank Martin.
Shakur needed to look good because his performance was an audition for the next promotional company to sign him, and he failed badly. If Shakur looked like gold, he likely would have been signed by a promoter by now.
“You have seen what I am able to get out of it when I do take those risks. He took those criticisms well from Terence Crawford and Andre Ward, and I hope he can take that and move on and have a better showing next time,” said Carrington about Crawford and Ward both critiquing Shakur after his win over Harutyunyan.
Carrington is a fighter of a different type than Shakur. He takes risks, has power, and always tries to entertain the fans. There’s no way that Carrington wouldn’t have gone all out looking for a knockout if he were in the same shoes as Shakur, with his contract expiring with a promotional company, facing a weak puncher, and fighting in front of his hometown fans.
It just shows that Shakur isn’t designed for the pro game. He’s a fighter who was in his element in the amateurs, using the point-scoring hits but not sitting down on his punches and avoiding punches.
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