Leo Santa Cruz talks Shakur Stevenson
Four-division world champion Leo Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19KOs), who’s expected to return against WBA regular lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (23-0, 22KOs) sometime in 2020, briefly shifted focus on another rising young champion in Shakur “Fearless” Stevenson (13-0, 7KOs).
In an interview with fighthype.com, Cruz stated that Stevenson would likely run in his potential fight with Rafael Rivera, a guy Santa Cruz has previously fought and beat.
“It’s going to be a good fight, you know. Rivera’s a tough fighter. He comes forward, throws a lot of punches, he’s strong, his body shows that he works out. Shakur Stevenson boxes real good and everything, so he might run and just box him.”
CONFUSING STATEMENT
Santa Cruz states that Stevenson may run, yet in the same breath says he’ll probably just box his opponent from the outside. Not known for trash talk, a statement like this may be interpreted as a shot towards the WBO featherweight champion.
A FUTURE MATCH-UP?
Santa Cruz revealed that a match-up down the line is possible.
“Yeah, of course, Shakur Stevenson is a great fighter. He says he can beat me, he can beat me easily. He won’t, he won’t beat me easily. He wouldn’t even beat me, so that’ll be a fight I would want, to show him he’s not on my level yet.”
A match-up between these two could very well happen down the line. Stevenson, who currently campaigns at 126, is growing rapidly and is expected to be at 130 (junior lightweight) in 2021. This would place him in a weight class that Santa Cruz currently fights at.
A battle between the two would be interesting due to their different styles. Stevenson is a southpaw slick boxer, compared to Santa Cruz being a non-stop come-forward pressure fighter who throws punches in bunches.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
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