Last week, American Shakur Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) failed the weigh-in, lost the WBC and WBO super featherweight titles, after which he announced his transition to lightweight. Failure on the scales did not demoralize the fighter very much – he confidently finished off the Olympic champion Robson Conceisau (17-2, 8 KOs) from Brazil.
Lightweight compatriot Ryan Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) found a spoonful of inedible substance in the barrel of Stevenson’s bright performance. Surprisingly, this time, on the whole, he speaks to the point.
“You know, I rarely comment on fights, –
began Garcia. – But I won’t lie to you, the fight between Shakur and Conceição disappointed me a little. Not because Stevenson won. It’s good, even great. He should have won. The thing is that during the fight he dealt a record number of low blows. I have never seen anyone throw so many punches in a fight without realizing that they are flying below the belt. And the referee? He missed absolutely everything he could. Just an incredible amount of fouls.”
“And howling, I’m sitting like this, watching this whole thing and thinking:“ What the f * ra is going on here at all? Garcia snapped. “Shakur, I have nothing against you. But, for God’s sake, you watch where you hit, okay? I counted about 100 low blows. I’m sorry, what? Shakur’s odds are against me. Pfff… How can he take me out of the ring if he couldn’t even do it to that dude? Stop talking nonsense. He is not able to knock out anyone at all. Do you know what the worst thing he can do to an opponent is? Jab to death!”
Immediately after the victory, Shakur said: “I will fight Lomachenko!” And then we figured out what was going to happen at lightweight with Stevenson’s move. How do you like the Shakur vs Gervonta Davis fight? Arum explained why this should not happen.