SHAKUR STEVENSON is meant to be Americaโs next star. Itโs why promotional powerhouse Top Rank chose him to headline their first show back after the coronavirus shutdown. Itโs a role that he is eager to embrace, even as he entered the quarantine zone in Las Vegas and stepped into a near empty studio to box without a crowd of spectators in promoter Bob Arumโs first show from โThe Bubbleโ.
โI love pressure,โ Stevenson tells Boxing News. โI love it. I love every moment of it. I mean it just made me want to perform.”
โI think Iโm a different type of person. Iโm rare. Iโm not like the rest of these fighters. Pressure makes me perform even better. When they put pressure on me it makes me want to oblige towards the pressure. I want to be closer towards the pressure, I want to go towards the pressure and face it head up. I think pressure is one of the best things that happened to me. I love pressure because it makes me perform a lot better. It makes me want to do more. While Iโm in the ring Iโm thinking, โIโve got to do this, Iโve got to do that.’ Iโve got to outdo this person. Iโve got to be better. Iโve got to be better than everybody.โ Iโm in there, Iโm trying to look for the right shots, hitting him everywhere I can, running through combinations, looking for stuff,โ he continued. โThe pressure that came, it kind of made me want to be a star. Iโm going in the ring thinking everybodyโs watching on TV, Iโve got to be a star.โ
Stevenson delivered as required, knocking out the overmatched Felix Caraballo inside six rounds. โIโm good at blocking stuff out and focusing on what Iโm supposed to be focusing on. So I think I coped with everything well and I think it showed,โ Stevenson said. โIt didnโt matter, nobody being able to come, none of that stuff mattered. I was just focused on my fight. So it wasnโt as bad as people would think.
โIt was actually cool. It was a little weird, the fact that I got him with solid, solid punches and Iโd be looking for like a reaction from the crowd (because I usually get that after like a solid shot). But I didnโt get no reactionโฆ I kind of just stepped into my zone and said, forget it. I focused more on that people were watching me on TV.โ
He rates the knockout itself as a highlight. โJust because of the set up. I looked left first, caught him with a left body shot and then I look right, touch that side and finally [punched] through. I caught him in between his punch. That was one of my favourites, just the set up, and showing my inside work, and showing thereโs more to my game that Iโm not just a defensive fighter. Iโve got offence too. That was my main thing going in there. To show people I can throw these hands too,โ Stevenson said.
He had something to prove. That he wasnโt just a defensive maestro but that he โcan also fight. Iโm a fighter alsoโ.
An Olympic silver medallist when he was only a teenager, those who have trained with Stevenson or shared a ring with him have high praise for him. Shakur has only just turned 23 too. He is young. His power will continue to develop, he will continue to improve. He won his first world title, the WBO featherweight belt last year although his most recent contest was up at super-feather. He has plans already to begin a move up through the weight classes. โI felt strong. I think 130lbs is kind of my weight. I caught him with a hook early on and I could feel the body shots Iโm sitting down on,โ Shakur said. โI felt real good at 130.
โI donโt want no defence of the title unless itโs a big fight. Iโve got to talk with my team and see how they feel also but I donโt know if Iโll fight again at 126 unless itโs like [Josh] Warrington. If itโs not Warrington then I donโt really see the point of fighting at 126lbs. I think โ30 is more my weight now.โ
The thought of travelling to Leeds to take on Warrington in a WBO and IBF unification in front of a hostile crowd appeals to Stevenson. โI would rather fight him with the crowd. I wouldnโt even want to fight him without his crowd. I think itโll help him to his advantage and Iโm the type of person whoโd rather fight you at your best, when youโre feeling good. Just so after you can understand. I donโt want hear no excuses, I want to hear โShakur is that goodโ. Thatโs all I want to hear after the fight,โ the American said. โThat would be like a setting that I would love. I think that would be the type of setting to turn me into a superstar and the kind of star that I would want to be. But I donโt know which way Warrington will go. Warrington seems like heโll go the Can Xu way. If we donโt fight now, later weโll end up fighting. Thereโs not too much left at 126 anyway, so if I move up Iโm pretty sure heโll be right after me going up to โ30.
โDonโt get me wrong, Warringtonโs a good fighter. I think heโs a smaller fighter. I think that heโs coming straight forward. Heโs saying heโs going to do it smartly if we fight but I donโt think that will help him. I think it will end up being a Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton type of fight. Youโve seen what happened with Floyd and Ricky and how it ended. Itโll have its own different tune to it but similar styles.โ
There are richly appealing targets for him in the super-featherweight division. He wants to go straight into fights with Leo Santa Cruz, Miguel Berchelt or Oscar Valdez, in that order of preference. โI think I need to. I think Iโm ready. I think that [Caraballo] fight there showed I need somebody on my level to be in the ring with me. You canโt have people thatโs not on my level in the ring with me because itโs going to end really bad. So I think it kind of showed. I need that competition. I donโt mind it. I love competition,โ he said. โThose type of [lower level] guys, they canโt do nothing with me, theyโre just tuning me up and getting me more ready. So I think that Santa Cruz will be a fight that will be a big fight for me and I will enjoy that.
โI think heโs got the biggest name at 130lbs. I think heโs got the biggest name and biggest fan base. He can sell an arena and stuff like that so, I think that heโs the perfect person for me to make my mark at 130.โ
Bob Arum, Stevensonโs promoter, told Boxing News previously that, in this new post-pandemic world, business rivals in boxing will need to cooperate. He specifically referred to working with Al Haymon, the influential advisor of Leo Santa Cruz among others. Thatโs something Stevenson himself is pushing for. โBob and Al can come together and we can make something happen,โ he says. โI think we need to start looking at Santa Cruz and Berchelt, Valdez and all these guys. I think itโs that time.โ
Stevenson adds, โI think I would go for Santa Cruz first and if I canโt get Santa Cruz, I see a lot of people saying Berchelt, Berchelt, Berchelt and they donโt know if Iโm ready for Berchelt. Iโd tell them the same thing I say. I love people telling me donโt fight this guy. I think Berchelt would be the next person Iโd go after. I definitely donโt want to wait around. Iโm not going to get too much out of waiting around.โ
He has an ambitious vision for his future. He wants to take over the sport and is giving himself about five years to do it. He explained his forecast: โFive yearsโ time I want to be number one on the pound-for-pound list. I have won several titles in several different weight classesโฆ I just want to be the alpha dog of the sport. I want to be the superstar, the top guy, the last man standing and they canโt get me out of there. They canโt find a way to beat me. I want to be that guy.โ
His goals are clear, and he has the talent. But making it to that exalted level is a long, hard path and he would have to stick to the course. โI think for a lot of other athletes Iโve came across and seen, I think itโs real hard for them. They get this fame and this money on the course to stardom they let off the gas. They start focusing on the wrong stuff and the stuff that donโt matter. I think with me, like I told you, Iโm different. I love the sport of boxing so all I think about is the sport of boxing. I want to be somebody and [know] what I want to be in life so I think that that helps me stay focused on what Iโm supposed to do. It helps me not follow the distractions that youโre talking about and not go the other route when I know I got something ahead in my future,โ he said. โI think that I just need to stay focused and fight the best competition available and I think Iโll become that superstar, that top fighter I want to be.โ
A superstar though would need a super-fight. In five yearsโ time he can see himself meeting Vasiliy Lomachenko, the leading fighter in the sport today, up at lightweight. โDepending on how Lomachenko keep doing, we donโt know if heโs going to start slowing down because of his age. But if heโs still the same Lomachenko, doing the same things that heโs been doing, I can see me and him being like that Pacquiao-Mayweather type of fight and the whole world begging for that fight and wanting to see that fight and me and him making it happen for the right type of money. Me and him have already been in the ring before so weโve got a little history,โ Stevenson said.
They sparred one another ahead of Lomachenkoโs fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux in 2017. โI ainโt going to speak on sparring but the only thing I will say is Lomachenko is extremely competitive. Heโs real competitive and thatโs one thing I enjoy about Lomachenko,โ Shakur said. โI think Lomachenkoโs the type that does not take no for an answer. A lot of people will take no for an answerโฆ But heโs the type of person that will not take no for an answer. He will not give up control so I like how competitive he is. He is really competitive in a boxing ring.โ
That competitive drive is something Stevenson shares with him. It might just carry the young American all the way to the top.