Every Thursday here at FightHype, boxing fans gather around my bulbous, bulging sack in anticipation of an Ol’ Faithful money shot of gooey, salty truth. This Thursday is no different. So, put your goggles on and cinch up your plastic poncho, here it comes. This week, we have comments/questions regarding Shakur Stevenson and what boxing needs to do for its own good.
What Boxing Needs
I thought PBC was headed down the right path at one point. But it appears they set a dangerous precedent that can be duplicated with an excess amount of capital that they could only dream of. His “excellency” is making the PBC venture capital look like a welfare program.
Most pundits will blame the modern status of boxing on Floyd Mayweather. Granted, Floyd took low risk, high reward fights once he turned 30. But prior to that he was taking on all comers. Do you think any of these current fighters would’ve fought the likes of Genaro Hernandez, Angel Manfredy, Jesus Chavez, Diego Corrales and Luis Castillo before they made a big payday? Heck No! The bottom line is that the fights before the payday matters. Guys are getting paid for fighting nobodys and they’re getting the big payday before fighting several live dogs.
Fighters must take challenges inside the ring and show their skill and toughness to gain that respect and build that audience. Promoters need to get back to the basics and start filling up these ballrooms and auditoriums. Let the prospects become contenders, let the contenders become challengers, and let the challengers become champions. Nowadays, fighters are going from prospect to challengers overnight.
I remember when I used to go to fight parties. Everyone knew the fighters headlining the main event and co-main event. In today’s day and age when I go to fight parties, I’m always being asked have you ever heard of this guy? The buzz simply isn’t there. When his “excellency” stops tricking off the investment fund. Just maybe things will go back to normal or maybe another sugar daddy promo company will arise.
When do you think boxing will get back to the basics and have fights that are meaningful for up and coming fighters? Is the only way up, down? Does boxing need a hard landing to get back to relevancy?
– Na'-il Rahman
Hey Na'-il.
I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again-- boxing needs a major crash that forces all promoters, boxing companies, and fighters to finally realize that they need to work together. As a niche sport that is becoming more and more of a niche as time goes on, it’s imperative for boxing to work together in building and re-building the sport. There’s just not enough fan support there anymore for all of these companies to be fighting for scraps, without it becoming harmful to the sport as a whole. Boxing needs to stop grabbing at quick money and get down to the serious work of creating the rising tide that will lift all their boats. And I think that will only happen when these people are facing actual bankruptcy and the serious reality that they will all be out of a business if they don’t get their asses moving. The only reason I might consider supporting Turki Alalshikh’s and Saudi Arabia’s prominence in the sport is as tools to facilitate that crash-- which just may happen if boxing people keep handing over more and more of the sport to them. So, yeah, we probably need to burn down the boxing village to save the boxing village.
WTF, Shakur?
Hi Paul.
I’m not going to lie, I’m now a full-blown Shakur Stevenson hater. I wasn’t one until yesterday when it was announced that he’d be fighting Joe Cordina next in Saudi Arabia. I can deal with a fighter who is safety-first in the ring and one who is annoying outside the ring. I can respect fighters for having their own personalities and business strategies. What I can’t tolerate is a hypocrite and, even worse, a hypocrite who laughs at the public that he needs to buy his fights. Shakur becoming a free agent, talking all that shit, and then choosing a WORSE opponent than what he had under Top Rank is pungent bullshit, but then he has the never to tell fans on social media to go fuck themselves because he’s getting that bag with the Cordina fight? Please. This kid can go fuck himself. From this point forward, whatever he’s doing, I ain’t watching.
– Clyde
Hey Clyde.
Shakur Stevenson is a case study in why some fighters need to have good public relations people and the discipline to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. The kid is just an unlikable sort with a really grating personality and a raging case of entitlement. And what he fails to see and understand is that much of the derision aimed at him is of his own doing. He, alone, controls how he performs in the ring and how he acts outside of it. His social media temper tantrums and excessive whining have made him a boxing punchline among fans and media, especially juxtaposed against the lack of fire he shows in the ring. The guy just doesn’t get it, even when his friend/mentor Terence Crawford-- who also doesn’t get a lot when it comes to public relations-- tries to set him on the right path, at least in terms of his ring work. Shakur just has too many enablers around him to be forced into learning his lessons. He’s celebrating the money he DOES make, but fails to realize how much more he could make by making some tweaks to his game and to his social media presence. If he wants to learn how to do all this right, he need look no further than to the top of his own division and Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
As for his fight with Cordina? It sucks. It’s a money grab. It’s a gift from Turki and Eddie Hearn to get an American name into the Saudi cabal.
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