Shakur Stevenson has been quiet on social media since news broke that he will defend his WBC lightweight title against recently knocked-out former IBF super featherweight champion Joe Cordina on October 12th in Riyadh.
Given all the talk that Shakur has done about wanting to fight Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Vasily Lomachenko, it’s a bad look on his part to fight Cordina. Shakur calls himself the best fighter in the lightweight division, but no one takes him seriously, and even less so now.
Cordina: A Controversial Title Shot
Stevenson brags a lot, referring to himself and Tank as the “Two Kings” of the lightweight division, but his performances and low-level opposition suggest he’s a phony.
If the fight with Shakur happens, Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) will get what many view as an undeserving title shot in his first fight at 135 after being knocked out by Anthony Cacace on May 18th.
Eddie Hearn promotes Cordina, so he’s giving him what could be a final big payday because he’s not expected to win or even be competitive against the 2016 Olympian Shakur. After Cordina loses this fight, his career will likely sink.
This is reportedly a one-fight deal for Shakur. He wants to be a free agent next year, and signing with Hearn’s Matchroom will help him get a fight against Tank Davis.
Hearn will likely sign Shakur to a long-term deal in 2025 after he fights Tank, but he might not if the Baltimore native destroys him.
Stevenson has not looked good in his last two fights at 135, which could indicate that he’s unable to handle the fighters’ power in the lightweight division. He started his career at 126, where he had a huge size advantage over his opposition.
It was the same when Shakur moved to super featherweight [130]. However, since Shakur moved up to lightweight in 2023, he’s had problems with the fighters’ power and aggression. Stevenson looks exactly like Adrien Broner did when he moved up from super featherweight many years ago.
Broner was a star at 130, but when he moved up in weight, his power didn’t carry up, and he became a mediocre fighter, looking for paydays and getting beaten repeatedly. Shakur is a perfect copy of Broner, but he hasn’t matched yet against anyone good at 135.
Last November, Stevenson’s fight against Edwin De Los Santos told fans all they needed to know about his viability at lightweight. He can’t handle the power of the fighters in the 135-lb division and has turned rabbit. You can see the fear in Shakur in his three fights at lightweight, and he’s not designed physically for this weight class.
Unable to deal with the harder shots, Shakur looks skittish in his fights, showing that he’s not comfortable with the power of his position. Moreover, Shakur lacks the pop in his punches to keep these fighters off him.
In other words, Stevenson is a fish out of water and can’t exist on dry land in the lightweight division. Hence, he’s pushing hard for a big-money cash-out fight against Tank Davis. He wants that big payday before he’s exposed.
Is Stevenson Avoiding Killers at 135?
Shakur looks physically unable to handle the power of fighters at 135, which is likely why his promoters have kept him away from Raymond Muratalla, Abdullah Mason, Andy Cruz, and Floyd Schofield.
They know what they have in Shakur, and they’re protecting him because he’s not built to mix it with the power guys at lightweight. He should return from whence he came at 130 or 126, but obviously, the purses are much smaller in those weight classes due to the fighters being obscure to the average fan.
Shakur’s last opponent, Artem Harutyunyan, had lost his previous fight when he was picked out to challenge for his WBC 135-lb title last July in Newark, New Jersey.
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