Shakur Stevenson says he wants to be called “the best fighter in the world” by people when they watch him defend his WBC lightweight title against Floyd Schofield on the February 22 card next month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The fight will be shown live on DAZN PPV, and will be watched by many fans. This is Shakur's big chance to expand his fan base by putting on a show and stealing the show from the main event between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
“Best in the world”
“I'm in control. I don't have close fights. You watch me go one, two, three, four, five, six rounds, and then we get to a point where someone wants to finish it off. They want the knockout, otherwise there's going to be a lot of Criticism is with her. secondIn response to people criticizing his fighting style, calling it “boring”.
“I sit in the pocket a lot. My last fight (Artem Harutyunyan), I sat in the pocket. If he comes crashing down, I'm going to have to put him in his place,” Shakur said of Floyd Schofield. “I'm going to fight all these guys. I will fight Ryan. I'll fight Devin or Teo. None of these guys. If these guys want to fight me, I'll fight them.
“I'm the best fighter in the world,” Shakur said when asked what he wants people to say about him when he fights Schofield on February 22 in Riyadh. “I know I'm the best fighter in the world, and I can't wait to prove it,” Stevenson said.
It is not true that Shakur sits in the pocket “a lot” in his fights. He only does this when faced with weak opposition. When he faces opposition with talent and power, he never stays in the pocket, which is why he gets criticized.
In Stevenson's last fight against Artem Harutyunyan, he stayed in the pocket because he was weak and slow. In his match before that against Edwin de los Santos, Stevenson was on his bike throughout the 12-round fight and was booed by the crowd.
The fighters Shakur would like to fight are not interested in fighting him. He says he would like to fight Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney. These guys won't fight him because he doesn't melee and moves around a lot. That's why Stevenson didn't get a bite out of Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko.
“I would love to fight Tank. I would love to fight Gervonta Davis. I think this is the biggest and best fight in the sport of boxing. Anytime they want to make these big fights, I'm ready to fight anyone and everyone,” Stevenson said.
It's possible that Turki Al-Sheikh could entice Tank to fight Shakur, but it would take a big show for that fight to happen because there's no interest on the Baltimore native's part in fighting him.
