Shakur Stevenson fights this Saturday evening, July sixth, in opposition to Artem Harutyunyan in a vital contest. He should carry out entertainingly to assist land a profitable deal as a free agent.
The WBC light-weight champion Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) Headlines in opposition to Harutyunyan (13-1, 7 KOs), a fighter coming off a loss, on the Prudential Middle in Newark, New Jersey.
The Free Company Issue
Shakur feels he’s the most effective fighter within the 135-lb division, however his thought of being the most effective is by way of his defensive means relatively than leisure. It’s all about not getting hit, avoiding contact always, and paying tag together with his opponents. That’s not what followers view as leisure on this period of the game.
This combat is Shakur’s final on his present contract with Prime Rank, so it’s vital that he appears sensational to assist his probabilities of getting an amazing deal on his subsequent contract.
Whichever promoter indicators Shakur, they’ll want to think about whether or not he’ll flip a revenue if his reputation fails to take off and he fails to usher in scores or promote tickets.
If Shakur focuses on preventing solely in his hometown of Newark, but when he’s going to be headlining in Las Vegas or New York, he might have issues except his promoter can get him fights in opposition to these fashionable fighters:
– Gervonta Davis– Vasily Lomachenko– Ryan Garcia– Devin Haney– Teofimo Lopez
It doesn’t look possible that any of these fighters will comply with combat Shakur if he turns in one other efficiency like final November in opposition to Edwin De Los Santos. That was one among Shakur’s worst performances since his beginner days, and it got here at a foul time for his profession, together with his contract with Prime Rank nearing the top.
It’s unclear if Harutyunyan, 33, was the most effective Prime Rank might discover for Shakur, however regardless of the cause, this isn’t the appropriate opponent for the defensive artist to face heading into free company.
The thought of placing Shakur in with a non-puncher with little energy was possible to make sure that he didn’t make it uninteresting by working across the ring the best way he’d achieved in opposition to the punchers De Los Santos, Oscar Valdez, Jeremiah Nakathilia, and Joet Gonzalez. Harutyunyan doesn’t possess the ability for Shakur to worry standing within the pocket and exchanging pictures with out his common three-step pull-back fashion.
Undercard Fights
On Saturday’s Stevenson-Harutyunyan undercard on ESPN, there are these two glorious fights:
– O’Shaquie Foster v Robson Conceicao– Keyshawn Davis v Miguel Madueno
