Shakur Stevenson says his fight against Artem Harutyunyan this Saturday night is the perfect “measuring stick” for fans to compare him to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Tank (30-0, 28 KOs) defeated Frank Martin by an eighth-round knockout on June 15th in a competitive fight until the KO. Last year, Martin barely edged Harutyunyan (13-1, 7 KOs), beating him by a narrow twelve-round unanimous decision on July 15, 2023.
A Weak Choice of Opponent
It might be wishful for Shakur to think fans will view his fight with Harutyunyan as any measuring stick to Tank Davis.
The hardcore boxing fans who saw the Martin vs. Harutyunyan fight have already formed their opinions on Shakur. They see this as a weak choice of opponent, given that Artem is coming off a loss to the guy Tank just knocked out in the eighth round.
Shakur’s only chance to impress fans is if he shows courage, stands in the pocket, and destroys Harutyunyan in a knockout victory. Anything else from that will be seen as a loss for Shakur in terms of his popularity, which is nosediving.
“I think it’s a great measuring stick. With Tank having fought Frank Martin and me fighting Artem, we’re fighting the same level of opposition damn near because they [Martin & Harutyunyan] fought each other and we seen that they were on the same level,” said Shakur Stevenson to MillCity Boxing, feeling that his opponent for this Saturday night, Artem Harutyunyan, is a similar-level fighter than Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ last challenger Martin.
Harutyunyan is a poor measuring stick for fans to compare Shakur to Tank Davis because it looks so bad that he’s fighting this guy, given that he’s coming off a loss to Martin.
If Shakur wanted to impress fans, he should have given Edwin De Los Santos a rematch because he could prove to the fans that he’s capable of looking good against him when 100% healthy.
“Now y’all can gauge off of our performances and get the fans excited a little bit,” said Shakur, putting a positive spin on his choosing to fight Harutyunyan, who is coming off a loss to Frank Martin.
Fans have already deemed Shakur weak for choosing Harutyunyan as his opponent, and the only way he can come out ahead is by knocking him clean out on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, the odds of Shakur doing that are virtually nonexistent. He fights too scared and won’t dare stand in the pocket to let his hands go, even against a non-puncher like Harutyunyan.
Shakur Wants to Redefine His Image
“I want to show everybody who I am. I think a lot of people forgot who I am as a fighter off of one fight [Edwin De Los Santos],” said Shakur when asked what he hopes to show fans in his fight against the recently beaten 33-year-old Harutyunyan on Saturday.
“I don’t put out consistently nights where I’m shining and looking good, and one night, I have a bad night, and everybody is stuck on that,” said Shakur.
Unfortunately, Shakur’s fight with Edwin De Los Santos wasn’t the first time he had engaged in a non-entertaining fight. He did the same thing in these fights as well:
– Joet Gonzalez
– Jeremiah Nakathilia
– Oscar Valdez
– Robson Conceição
– Jamel Herring
– Christopher Diaz
An Odd Duck in the Pro Ranks
Fans don’t mention past Shakur fights as much, but they weren’t entertaining to watch. Shakur used the same pull-back style in his fight against De Los Santos and ensured he was rarely hit.
While that’s great for fans who enjoy watching defensive work, it wasn’t exciting stuff. Shakur hasn’t changed his fighting style from his amateur days, and he is fighting in the same style.
That doesn’t fit into the pro game for what fans are accustomed to watching. Shakur is an odd duck in the pro ranks, and it takes a particular type of fan to enjoy his approach to fighting.
There just aren’t enough of those types of fans to turn Shakur into a bonafide must-see star. If you put Shakur in a time machine and brought him back to the Mayweather era in the early 2000s, Floyd’s fans would appreciate his fighting style. Shakur doesn’t fit in this era, unfortunately.
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