Shakur Stevenson, WBC light-weight champion, might be a promotional free agent after his title protection towards Artem Harutyunyan this Saturday night time on the Prudential Middle in Newark, New Jersey.
The struggle would be the 26-year-old Shakur’s final underneath his contract with Bob Arum’s firm, Prime Rank. Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) hasn’t given any hints of the place he’ll go to subsequent or if he’ll stick with Arum.
The Attract of Matchroom Boxing
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has expressed curiosity in signing Stevenson, but it surely’s unknown if he’s keen to fulfill the asking worth of the 2016 Olympic silver medalist.
The way in which Shakur talks, he views himself as a mega-star within the Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis mildew, and he hasn’t proven himself to be an entertaining fighter that might pan out for Hearn or any promoter to present him an costly contract.
It’s believed that Shakur will quickly get a struggle towards Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, however that one may wreck his little reputation, particularly if he runs across the ring towards him as he did in 5 of an important fights of his quick seven-year profession.
Shakur has a nasty repute for being a runner, and he’s executed nothing that might refute that rep in his latest fights.
If Hearn indicators Shakur, he may very well be caught with a fighter that the highest guys keep away from, and he has nothing to supply him however Cuban Andy Cruz and a handful of his 140-lb fighters, who he would have little curiosity in combating.
The fellows that Hearn has across the 135 and 140-lb weight courses aren’t ones that Shakur could be enthusiastic about combating. It may result in Shakur being sad, grumbling, and speaking about wanting to depart Hearn as soon as his contract was up.
The Danger of Undercard Demotion
Provided that Shakur is sort of obsessive about combating Tank Davis, the one firm that is sensible for him to signal with is PBC as a result of they may probably line him up with a struggle towards him. However past the Tank struggle, there’s not a lot else PBC can provide Shakur, and he would possibly discover it troublesome to remain energetic in the event that they solely have a handful of dates to supply.
If Shakur’s fights don’t convey within the numbers for PBC on Amazon Prime, he may discover himself caught combating on undercards like we’re seeing with David Benavidez.
The very last thing PBC wants is to lose its broadcast spot with Amazon as a consequence of its headliners failing to usher in viewers. It might be dangerous for PBC to maintain Shakur as a headliner on their playing cards if followers aren’t inquisitive about seeing him.
That wouldn’t be good for Shakur’s profession to be demoted to undercard slots, but it surely’s about bringing within the numbers. PBC would need their in style fighters to be given the selection spots, and Shakur’s model doesn’t appeal to the followers.
