Tim Bradley sees Shakur Stevenson’s pursuit of Manny Pacquiao as a soft move. With plenty of active fighters available, Shakur has picked a 47-year-old for the proposed co-feature on the Tyson Fury–Anthony Joshua card.
“Ain’t nobody waiting on no damn Manny Pacquiao and you to fight, boy,” Bradley said in a video on his channel. He challenged Zuffa Boxing’s interest in the matchup, too: “Y’all talking about y’all supposed to be changing boxing? This ain’t changing boxing. This downplaying and downgrading boxing.”
Bradley first fought Pacquiao in 2012, when Manny was 33. Stevenson would face a far older fighter who has not recorded an official win since beating Keith Thurman in 2019. Putting Pacquiao’s name on Shakur’s record would be a commercial prize. It would say much less about Shakur’s place among today’s best fighters.
A Fury–Joshua stadium card would put Stevenson in front of viewers who rarely watch him. That opportunity comes with a trap. If he controls the distance and wins a quiet decision, a crowd waiting for Pacquiao’s old bursts of action may turn on him. If Shakur stops Pacquiao, many will see the result through the lens of Manny’s age. Winning the fight and winning over that audience are different jobs.
Stevenson also holds the WBO light welterweight title he took from Teofimo Lopez in January. Bradley pointed to Raymond Muratalla and O’Shaquie Foster while questioning why Shakur is pursuing Pacquiao. A catchweight attraction would take time away from a title defense, although the WBO has not approved this proposed fight or granted Stevenson an exception.
Bradley went further, claiming Floyd Mayweather wants Shakur to beat Pacquiao before Gervonta Davis gets the opportunity. That is Bradley’s speculation. His stronger point concerns Shakur’s own career: a famous opponent cannot give him the same credibility as beating a top fighter in his prime.
Pacquiao–Stevenson remains in talks for the proposed Fury–Joshua card in Cardiff. Bout agreements had not been delivered when the latest report was published.
Turki Alalshikh built his entire reputation among boxing purists on eliminating cherry-picks, forcing unifications, and making the fights the old promotional machinery spent a decade sabotaging. For Riyadh Season and Netflix to rubber-stamp an official, sanctioned bout between a prime pound-for-pound champion and an elderly senator looks like a total betrayal of that brand. It lowers the bar to YouTube celebrity boxing standards. Purists will openly question how the same organizers who put together elite 50-50 matchups can suddenly justify an exploitative nostalgia stunt on the biggest British stadium card of the year.
Turki Alalshikh built his entire reputation among boxing purists on eliminating cherry-picks, forcing unifications, and making the fights the old promotional machinery spent a decade sabotaging. For Riyadh Season and Netflix to rubber-stamp an official, sanctioned bout between a prime pound-for-pound champion and an elderly senator looks like a total betrayal of that brand. It lowers the bar to YouTube celebrity boxing standards. Purists will openly question how the same organizers who put together elite 50-50 matchups can suddenly justify an exploitative nostalgia stunt on the biggest British stadium card of the year.
Putting this fight as the co-feature in Cardiff sets a stylistic trap for everyone involved. Those stadium fans want blood, violence, and dramatic exchanges to warm them up for Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Instead, they will watch Shakur do what he always does: use elite footwork, control distance from twenty feet away, and tap his way to a quiet, low-output decision against an icon whose forty-seven-year-old legs cannot track him down.
If Shakur refuses to engage and cruises to a boring points win, eighty thousand spectators will boo him mercilessly. If he turns aggressive and stops Pacquiao, fans will feel disgusted watching a faded legend get battered by someone nearly two decades younger. It produces a scenario where nobody wins, the sport loses credibility, and the fans leave feeling cheated by a spectacle disguised as competition.
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