Shakur Stevenson claims he’s the best fighter on the upcoming February 22nd card in Riyadh, and he says “everyone wants to see” him. He’s defending his WBC lightweight title against Floyd Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs), and their fight is buried five deep on the undercard. It’s buried for a reason.
Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) needs to put on an impressive performance because there will be a lot of fans that will be tuning in to watch this event on DAZN PPV. His last two fights against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos were booed.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn believed in Shakur, 27, enough to sign him to a multi-fight deal, hoping to turn him into a “global star.” Hearn is up against it with this guy. His fighting style is poison, and he’s got a glass hand that has given him problems since moving up to the lightweight division.
I doubt he believes he can do that. It’s more likely that Hearn signed Shakur to get the lucrative Gervonta Davis fight, which will bring in a lot of money. If and when Stevenson loses, Hearn can dump him and focus his energy on the more talented 2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz. He’s a guy who can do the same thing Shakur can, but he has a more fan-friendly style.
“It’s been a rocky couple of months. It just seems that a lot of people are counting me out. They talk bad about me. They act like I’m not this person I’ve been my whole life,” said Shakur Stevenson to DAZN Boxing. “So, f*** them. Mentally, it starts to bother me, but then you start to realize that the only thing that really matters is the people that care about you.
“No disrespect to those guys, but I’m the best fighter. I’m what everyone wants to see on that card,” said Shakur about him believing he’s the best fighter on the February 22nd card in Riyadh. “A lot of people say they’re not going to wake up at a certain time and all that stuff.
“Everybody is going to be watching that. Everybody is going to want to see Shakur. A lot of people act like Shakur isn’t must-see TV, but I am must-see TV. I’m the best fighter in boxing. Everyone wants to see me. Everybody wants to watch me. They’re going to keep paying attention.”
Shakur has got the villain character down, making him hated even more. But he can’t make a career out of that if fans don’t enjoy watching him. He’s got to change, or else. He’s got the right opponent to at least try, defending against the 22-year-old novice Schofield. This is someone that Shakur should be able to beat by staying in the pocket and out-punching him.
DAZN PPV card on February 22nd
Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2
Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker
Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov
Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield
Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel
Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith
Bradley Rea vs. Constantino Nanga
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