Shakur Stevenson says he wants to be called the “best fighter in the world” by people when they watch him defend his WBC lightweight title against Floyd Schofield on the February 22 card next month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The fight will be shown live on DAZN PPV and many fans will be watching. This is Shakur’s big opportunity to expand his fan base by putting on a show and stealing the thunder from the main event between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
“The best in the world”
“I dominate. I don’t have close fights. You see me go up one, two, three, four, five, six rounds and then there comes a point where somebody just wants to finish it. They want a knockout or else there be a lot of criticism with it,” Shakur Stevenson told Secondsout, responding to the people criticizing his fighting style, labeling him as ‘boring’.
“I’m in my pocket a lot. My last fight [Artem Harutyunyan]I was in my pocket. If he gets wrecked, I’m going to have to put him in his place,” Shakur said of Floyd Schofield. “I want to fight all those guys. I want to fight Ryan. I want to fight Devin or Teo. Any of those guys. If those guys want to fight me, I’ll fight them.
“That I’m the best fighter in the world,” Shakur said when asked what he wants people to say about him when he fights Schofield on Feb. 22 in Riyadh. “I know I’m the best fighter in the world and I can’t wait to prove it,” Stevenson said.
It is not true that Shakur is “in the pocket a lot” in his matches. He only does this when he meets weak resistance. When facing opposition with talent and power, he never stays in the pocket, which is why he is criticized.
In Stevenson’s last fight against Artem Harutyunyan, he stayed in the pocket because he was weak and slow. In his fight before that against Edwin De Los Santos, Stevenson was on his bike for the entire 12-round fight and was booed by the fans.
The fighters that Shakur wants to fight are not interested in fighting him. He says he wants to fight Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney. Those guys won’t fight him because he doesn’t engage and moves too much. That’s why Stevenson hasn’t gotten a bite out of Gervonta Davis and Vasily Lomachenko.
“I would love to fight Tank. I would love to fight Gervonta Davis. I think it’s the biggest and best fight to make in the sport of boxing. Whenever they want to make these big fights happen, I’m ready to fight anyone and everyone,” Stevenson said.
Turki Al-Sheikh could possibly entice Tank to fight Shakur, but it will take a big offer for that fight to happen because there is no interest on the Baltimore native’s part in fighting him.
