Shakur Stevenson says he injured both hands during his fight against Josh Padley last Saturday night in Riyadh. Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) still stopped Padley (15-1, 4 KOs) in the ninth round in a successful title defense of his WBC lightweight belt at The Venue, but the injuries for both hands are concerning.
Hand Trouble
He has glass hands, and he’s not cut out for fighting unless it’s against weak opposition. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur has fought only one talented fighter during his entire career, Edwin De Los Santos. Because of his hand problems, he was forced to move constantly. Since then, his management has put him in with two weak opponents, Padley and Artem Harutyunyan.
If he gets his wish of the fight against Gervonta Davis that he’s been obsessing about, his hands will likely fall apart, and he’ll wind up running most of the battle while being booed by the fans. The fans who ordered the fight on PPV, thinking it would be competitive, will feel stupid.
It’s essential that Shakur first prove that he can beat a true top lightweight with talent before being matched against Tank Davis. Right now, Stevenson has been purposefully matched against two weak punchers in back-to-back fights since his disastrous showing against De Los Santos.
My suggestion would be for Shakur to prove himself against two or three of these fighters before Turki gives him the Tank fight:
– Andy Cruz: He needs to be first
– Raymond Muratalla
– Abdullah Mason
– William Zepeda
Stevenson, 27, wasn’t going up against a puncher, and he didn’t need to sit down on his shots to win against this level of opponent. The injuries create a lot of doubt about whether Shakur is physically built for the 135-lb division. Moving back down to 130 or 126 might make things a little easier on Shakur because he won’t have to load up on hi shots the way he does at 135.
“You got to ask him. How is he going to hit me? How is he going to land his punches on me that I done seen him throw a million times?” said Shakur Stevenson to Secondsout, talking about Gervonta Davis. “I can’t wait for it to happen. Turki is the guy. He says he wants to make the fight happen.
“If he reaches out to me and says he wants to get the fight, I’m willing to negotiate and see if we can come to an agreement and make that fight happen. I don’t need him. I make a lot of money when I fight, but I would love for that fight to happen. It’s all on him,” said Shakur.
Last Updated on 02/24/2025
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