Shakur Stevenson, WBC lightweight champion, will be a promotional free agent after his title defense against Artem Harutyunyan this Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The fight will be the 26-year-old Shakur’s last under his contract with Bob Arum’s company, Top Rank. Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) hasn’t given any hints of where he’ll go to next or if he’ll stay with Arum.
The Allure of Matchroom Boxing
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has expressed interest in signing Stevenson, but it’s unknown if he’s willing to meet the asking price of the 2016 Olympic silver medalist.
The way Shakur talks, he views himself as a mega-star in the Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis mold, and he hasn’t shown himself to be an entertaining fighter that could pan out for Hearn or any promoter to give him an expensive contract.
It’s believed that Shakur will soon get a fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, but that one could wreck his little popularity, especially if he runs around the ring against him as he did in five of the most important fights of his short seven-year career.
Shakur has a nasty reputation for being a runner, and he’s done nothing that would refute that rep in his recent fights.
If Hearn signs Shakur, he could be stuck with a fighter that the top guys avoid, and he has nothing to offer him but Cuban Andy Cruz and a handful of his 140-lb fighters, who he would have little interest in fighting.
The guys that Hearn has around the 135 and 140-lb weight classes aren’t ones that Shakur would be excited about fighting. It could lead to Shakur being unhappy, grumbling, and talking about wanting to leave Hearn once his contract was up.
The Risk of Undercard Demotion
Given that Shakur is nearly obsessed with fighting Tank Davis, the only company that makes sense for him to sign with is PBC because they could potentially line him up with a fight against him. But beyond the Tank fight, there’s not much else PBC can give Shakur, and he might find it difficult to stay active if they only have a handful of dates to offer.
If Shakur’s fights don’t bring in the numbers for PBC on Amazon Prime, he could find himself stuck fighting on undercards like we’re seeing with David Benavidez.
The last thing PBC needs is to lose its broadcast spot with Amazon due to its headliners failing to bring in viewers. It would be risky for PBC to keep Shakur as a headliner on their cards if fans aren’t interested in seeing him.
That wouldn’t be good for Shakur’s career to be demoted to undercard slots, but it’s about bringing in the numbers. PBC would want their popular fighters to be given the choice spots, and Shakur’s style doesn’t attract the fans.
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