“Skillfully, I feel like I was the better fighter. My range, my distance, and my speed was kind of better than his,” Stevenson said on The Joe Rogan Experience while recalling the rounds they shared during training camp early in his professional career.
Shakur added that Lomachenko’s conditioning and punch output were advantages at the time because the Ukrainian was preparing for a fight during the camp.
“From a standpoint of being in shape and throwing more punches, I feel like he was kind of better,” Shakur said. “He was getting ready for his fight, and I was getting ready for my fight too.”
The sessions took place in 2017, while Lomachenko was preparing for his fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux. Stevenson, then a young southpaw coming off his Olympic silver medal, was brought into camp as a sparring partner.
Lomachenko entered the professional ranks after one of the most accomplished amateur careers in boxing history. Unlike Stevenson, who won an Olympic silver medal, Lomachenko captured two Olympic gold medals and compiled a record widely reported as 396 wins and one loss.
That lone defeat came against Russia’s Albert Selimov in the final of the 2007 World Amateur Championships at featherweight. Lomachenko later avenged the loss twice during his amateur career, including a victory over Selimov at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Shakur said the experience stuck with him because he felt he was able to hold his own against one of the sport’s most respected technicians at the time.
Looking back now, Stevenson said he believes Lomachenko may have viewed the situation differently once he saw how Stevenson performed during those rounds.
“If I’m Lomachenko, and I know he was 126 pounds at the time. He was a kid, pushing 30,” Stevenson said. “Now I see him all grown up, bigger and stronger, and I see what he was doing as a kid. I probably would test the water with him. I really wouldn’t want to see that guy.”
The two fighters never faced each other in the professional ranks despite competing in nearby divisions during parts of their careers.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist Loma went on to win world titles in multiple divisions and build a reputation as one of boxing’s most technically skilled fighters. Shakur has since followed his own path, winning titles in three divisions and establishing himself as one of the sport’s most defensively skilled fighters.
Although the sparring sessions remain part of boxing history, Stevenson suggested the experience may help explain why a fight between the two never came together once both fighters reached championship level.
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