Former undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins has likened one reigning world champion to the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard, due to his fighting style and composure whilst in the ring.
Sugar Ray became the second fighter in boxing history to have held world titles in five separate weight divisions when he knocked out Don Lalonde to get his hands on the WBC light-heavyweight title in 1988.
However, it is his successes against his fellow ‘Four Kings’ that sees Leonard held in such high regard, having defeated each of Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler in legendary triumphs that will be spoken about for generations to come.
Last weekend, Shakur Stevenson soundly beat Teofimo Lopez to become a four-weight champion and, speaking to FightHype.com ahead of that fight, Hopkins compared the contest to Leonard-Duran, before explaining why he believes Stevenson’s style is similar to Leonard’s.
“I’d say this is more like a Duran and Leonard.”
“Leonard had more weapons of urban slick speed, bravado, come on man.
“If you know about Leonard, if you know about his history and you know about his style, he confused you, he made you miss and he didn’t even run, he was actually there.
“He is slick, he is super slick, he is grease. So when you talk about those type of styles and that type of ring generalship, for this era, 2026, that is Shakur Stevenson.”
Following his tremendous triumph over Lopez, Stevenson has been stripped of his WBC lightweight world title. The Newark southpaw may now remain at super-lightweight to defend his new WBO crown, or deliver on a move up to welterweight to face the likes of Conor Benn or Devin Haney.
Whatever he does, there is no question that he deserves to be ranked as one of the very best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
