Shakur Stevenson: ‘I want to be the alpha dog of the sport. I want to be the superstar’

Shakur Stevenson

SHAKUR STEVENSON is meant to be Americaโ€™s next star. Itโ€™s why promotional powerhouse Top Rank chose him to headline their first show back after the coronavirus shutdown. Itโ€™s 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 Arumโ€™s first show from โ€˜The Bubbleโ€™.

โ€œI love pressure,โ€ Stevenson tells Boxing News. โ€œI love it. I love every moment of it. I mean it just made me want to perform.”

โ€œI think Iโ€™m a different type of person. Iโ€™m rare. Iโ€™m 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 Iโ€™m in the ring Iโ€™m thinking, โ€˜Iโ€™ve got to do this, Iโ€™ve got to do that.’ Iโ€™ve got to outdo this person. Iโ€™ve got to be better. Iโ€™ve got to be better than everybody.โ€™ Iโ€™m in there, Iโ€™m trying to look for the right shots, hitting him everywhere I can, running through combinations, looking for stuff,โ€ he continued. โ€œThe pressure that came, it kind of made me want to be a star. Iโ€™m going in the ring thinking everybodyโ€™s watching on TV, Iโ€™ve got to be a star.โ€

Stevenson delivered as required, knocking out the overmatched Felix Caraballo inside six rounds. โ€œIโ€™m good at blocking stuff out and focusing on what Iโ€™m supposed to be focusing on. So I think I coped with everything well and I think it showed,โ€ Stevenson said. โ€œIt didnโ€™t matter, nobody being able to come, none of that stuff mattered. I was just focused on my fight. So it wasnโ€™t as bad as people would think.

โ€œIt was actually cool. It was a little weird, the fact that I got him with solid, solid punches and Iโ€™d be looking for like a reaction from the crowd (because I usually get that after like a solid shot). But I didnโ€™t get no reactionโ€ฆ 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. โ€œJust 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 thereโ€™s more to my game that Iโ€™m not just a defensive fighter. Iโ€™ve 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 wasnโ€™t just a defensive maestro but that he โ€œcan also fight. Iโ€™m 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. โ€œI 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 Iโ€™m sitting down on,โ€ Shakur said. โ€œI felt real good at 130.

โ€œI donโ€™t want no defence of the title unless itโ€™s a big fight. Iโ€™ve got to talk with my team and see how they feel also but I donโ€™t know if Iโ€™ll fight again at 126 unless itโ€™s like [Josh] Warrington. If itโ€™s not Warrington then I donโ€™t really see the point of fighting at 126lbs. I think โ€™30 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. โ€œI would rather fight him with the crowd. I wouldnโ€™t even want to fight him without his crowd. I think itโ€™ll help him to his advantage and Iโ€™m the type of person whoโ€™d rather fight you at your best, when youโ€™re feeling good. Just so after you can understand. I donโ€™t want hear no excuses, I want to hear โ€˜Shakur is that goodโ€™. Thatโ€™s all I want to hear after the fight,โ€ the American said. โ€œThat 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 donโ€™t know which way Warrington will go. Warrington seems like heโ€™ll go the Can Xu way. If we donโ€™t fight now, later weโ€™ll end up fighting. Thereโ€™s not too much left at 126 anyway, so if I move up Iโ€™m pretty sure heโ€™ll be right after me going up to โ€™30.

โ€œDonโ€™t get me wrong, Warringtonโ€™s a good fighter. I think heโ€™s a smaller fighter. I think that heโ€™s coming straight forward. Heโ€™s saying heโ€™s going to do it smartly if we fight but I donโ€™t think that will help him. I think it will end up being a Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton type of fight. Youโ€™ve seen what happened with Floyd and Ricky and how it ended. Itโ€™ll 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. โ€œI think I need to. I think Iโ€™m ready. I think that [Caraballo] fight there showed I need somebody on my level to be in the ring with me. You canโ€™t have people thatโ€™s not on my level in the ring with me because itโ€™s going to end really bad. So I think it kind of showed. I need that competition. I donโ€™t mind it. I love competition,โ€ he said. โ€œThose type of [lower level] guys, they canโ€™t do nothing with me, theyโ€™re 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.

โ€œI think heโ€™s got the biggest name at 130lbs. I think heโ€™s got the biggest name and biggest fan base. He can sell an arena and stuff like that so, I think that heโ€™s the perfect person for me to make my mark at 130.โ€

shakur stevenson
Stevenson boxes inside ‘The Bubble’ Photo: Getty Images

Bob Arum, Stevensonโ€™s 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. Thatโ€™s something Stevenson himself is pushing for. โ€œBob and Al can come together and we can make something happen,โ€ he says. โ€œI think we need to start looking at Santa Cruz and Berchelt, Valdez and all these guys. I think itโ€™s that time.โ€

Stevenson adds, โ€œI think I would go for Santa Cruz first and if I canโ€™t get Santa Cruz, I see a lot of people saying Berchelt, Berchelt, Berchelt and they donโ€™t know if Iโ€™m ready for Berchelt. Iโ€™d tell them the same thing I say. I love people telling me donโ€™t fight this guy. I think Berchelt would be the next person Iโ€™d go after. I definitely donโ€™t want to wait around. Iโ€™m 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: โ€œFive yearsโ€™ time I want to be number one on the pound-for-pound list. I have won several titles in several different weight classesโ€ฆ 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 canโ€™t get me out of there. They canโ€™t 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. โ€œI think for a lot of other athletes Iโ€™ve came across and seen, I think itโ€™s 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 donโ€™t matter. I think with me, like I told you, Iโ€™m 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 Iโ€™m supposed to do. It helps me not follow the distractions that youโ€™re talking about and not go the other route when I know I got something ahead in my future,โ€ he said. โ€œI think that I just need to stay focused and fight the best competition available and I think Iโ€™ll 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. โ€œDepending on how Lomachenko keep doing, we donโ€™t know if heโ€™s going to start slowing down because of his age. But if heโ€™s still the same Lomachenko, doing the same things that heโ€™s 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 weโ€™ve got a little history,โ€ Stevenson said.

They sparred one another ahead of Lomachenkoโ€™s fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux in 2017. โ€œI ainโ€™t going to speak on sparring but the only thing I will say is Lomachenko is extremely competitive. Heโ€™s real competitive and thatโ€™s one thing I enjoy about Lomachenko,โ€ Shakur said. โ€œI think Lomachenkoโ€™s the type that does not take no for an answer. A lot of people will take no for an answerโ€ฆ But heโ€™s 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.

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