Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Turki Alalshikh will want to make the fight between Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis next after Shakur disposes of his replacement opponent, Josh Padley, on Saturday night.
In an interview today, Hearn said fans want to see the “Biggest fight in boxing” between Shakur and Tank Davis next. Hearn is going overboard in trying to land the Tank Davis fight for Shakur before his two-fight contract with Matchroom expires.
Turki should show Shakur some tough love by insisting that he at least prove himself worthy of a Tank fight. Running this little gauntlet would be a reasonable way for Shakur to prove he deserves to share the ring with Davis.
The Gauntlet
- Andy Cruz
- Abdullah Mason
- Raymond Muratalla
- Ernesto Mercado
- William Zepeda
The way that Hearn is trying to rush the Tank-Shakur fight so quickly reeks of someone trying to offload a lemon before people find out its true worth.
Hearn says Shakur is #1 pound-for-pound and the best fighter at 135. If that’s true, why not let him prove it by fighting some opposition for once? Is that too much to ask for? Why not let Shakur take his time and build his weak resume by fighting the top guys at 135?
If you look at Stevenson’s resume, it’s empty of high-level names. His last three fights have been against Artem Harutyunyan, Edwin De Los Santos, and Shuichiro Yoshino.
Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) will defend his WBC lightweight title against Josh Padley in Riyadh. That’s expected to be an easy win for Stevenson against a fringe contender selected as the replacement opponent for the ill Floyd Schofield.
“For me, the plan is Tank. We want the Zepeda fight. He’s rematching Tevin Farmer. He obviously doesn’t want to fight Shakur,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV when asked about the plans for Shakur Stevenson’s next fight if he’s victorious against Josh Padley on Saturday night in Riyadh.
“The Schofield fight. The Lamont Roach fight. How many of them guys do you really want to see? You want to see those two in together. So, get through Saturday night. Let’s just make it happen—tank vs. Shakur. It’s the best fight in boxing and all we go. You’ve got His Excellency. If he wants to make that fight, he’ll make it happen. So, fingers crossed.
“That’s not under my control, but hopefully, Tank wants to be in the biggest fight, and that’s [Shakur vs. Davis] is the biggest fight in the sport in my opinion, especially around his weight class.
Intentional or not, a high-level opponent wasn’t chosen for Shakur to fight this Saturday night. It would have been nice if Stevenson had taken a risky fight to prove that he rates a fight against Gervonta Davis because fighting Padley isn’t the way to do it.
When you see heavyweight Martin Bakole enlisted as the substitute opponent for Joseph Parker to fight this Saturday night in place of the sick IBF champion Daniel Dubois, it looks evident that the Eddie Hearn-promoted Shakur is being protected to keep him from being beaten before he gets that Tank fight. Isn’t that what we’re seeing? Is soft matchmaking done for Shakur to ensure he doesn’t get exposed before he’s shown to be a wholly manufactured hype job?
Backdoor to Tank?
It looks like Shakur is taking the backdoor route to the Tank fight by facing an opposition that has no chance of beating him. What other way is there to see it? Stevenson is fighting Padley after beating an inactive fighter coming off a loss, Artem Harutyunyan in his previous fight. Is it by accident that Shakur is being matched in this manner, or is it intentional to ensure he doesn’t get beaten and ruin his chances of fighting Tank Davis?
“We had three or four opponents. The good thing for Padley is he’d already beat Mark Chamberlain, who is His Excellency’s favorite fighter,” said Hearn about how Padley was chosen for Shakur. “He already boxed at Wembley and won that fight. He was #12 with the WBC, he was 15-0, and we needed a quick decision. His Excellency said, ‘Go with Padley,’ and that was it. We phoned him up and got the deal done.”
Despite the low-level replacement opponent brought in for Shakur to fight, this match hasn’t been pushed down to the preliminary portion of the card. Many fans on social media don’t view it as being PPV-worthy, given its complete mismatch. Padley isn’t anywhere near the level of a top-10 fighter, and it’s not even remotely sporting.
Last Updated on 02/20/2025
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