Shakur Stevenson is a champion – but not an attraction – according to boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions.
“Beautiful style. Great technique. Has the punching power. Has the chin. But he needs the confidence to fight,” De La Hoya told Hall of Fame football player turned commentator Shannon Sharpe in a recent episode of Club Shay Shay. “He has to believe in himself to put on a good show and sell seats. That’s the problem he’s having. He’s not selling seats. He’s a great fighter. He’s demanding all this money, and fights are not being made.”
Stevenson, 27, is presently the WBC lightweight titleholder. He previously held belts in the junior lightweight and featherweight divisions.
Stevenson is undefeated at 22-0 (10 KOs) and is now a promotional free agent, having turned down an offer from Top Rank to continue on with that company for a reported $3 million per fight. In his last appearance, a July win over Artem Harutyunyan, the announced attendance was 8,412 in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
Last month, De La Hoya said he met with Stevenson’s representatives but that he wouldn’t make a fight with Golden Boy’s top 135-pound contender, William Zepeda, unless Stevenson signed with them. However, Stevenson vs. Zepeda is now moving toward a purse bid.
“There’s a stigma in boxing where, if you lose your ‘0,’ your career’s over. No, it’s not,” De La Hoya said. “It depends how you fight. You can be an undefeated fighter and not be a fighter, and not be an attraction, and not be a guy who everybody wants to see. It all depends on how you perform, and you’re as good as your last fight in boxing. Jaime Munguia and Canelo [Alvarez], Jaime lost. His comeback fight, if he chooses the right opponent and looks like a million dollars and he knocks him out, then guess what: He’s back, he’s probably even bigger than when he fought Canelo. It’s all strategy. It’s all how you perform inside the ring.”
Stevenson drew boos during his November 2023 win over Edwin de los Santos, though he was also fighting through injuries in that bout. And Stevenson received criticism as well following his victory over Harutyunyan.
Stevenson has pushed back publicly on a lot of that criticism, including a recent conversation with Andre Ward in which Stevenson said that young Black fighters are held to a different standard.
And Tim Smith, a former boxing writer who’s now a spokesman for Premier Boxing Champions, told a podcast that Stevenson “gets a bum rap.”
Conversely, De La Hoya is a big fan of the way that Gervonta “Tank” Davis fights. This must be noted: De La Hoya didn’t explicitly compare Stevenson and Davis; his mentions of each were at different points in the interview. But his point was otherwise clear.
“One thing about Tank, which I love – and this is why he’s going to be great – [is] because he fights. And when you fight, you’re gonna get hit, and you might get knocked out,” De La Hoya said. “That’s the beauty about Tank, that he fights. That’s why they love him. Tank Davis is a star.”
Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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