Shakur Stevenson Going Free Agent Route After Top Rank Contract
In his next tour of duty, on November 16, lightweight fighter “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson (20-0, 10 KO’s) will take on Edwin De Los Santos. While Stevenson believes that Santos will provide a challenge in the ring, he is disappointed that his name value does not have a higher acclaim. Perhaps this is why the two-division champion recently made his willingness to seek alternative promotional representation in the near future a public matter while appearing on Cigar Talk.
“Hell no, fuck no! I’m considering every option possible. Let me make sure that’s known. Top Rank’s been good to me, I haven’t got nothing bad to say about Top Rank. But once my contract’s up, I will be a free agent and I’m willing to talk to anybody and everybody that wants to do great business.”
LOOKING FOR THE GREENER GRASS
As he freely admitted, his current promoters, Top Rank, have done well enough by him and pushed him a good way into the public light. Yet, it is no secret that Top Rank has a long history of discovering great talent and expertly developing their early years. At the same time, most of those fighters, which include notables such as Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, and Floyd Mayweather Jr., had to leave Top Rank before making their greatest fortunes.
Even one of Stevenson’s dearest mentors, two-division undisputed champion Terence Crawford, finally abandoned Top Rank after a number of rocky years. Following the above outlined template, once gone, Crawford secured the biggest fight of his career versus Errol Spence Jr.. Therefore, it’d be no great surprise if Fearless decided to test the waters with a new promotional outfit.
First though, let’s let Stevenson handle his business on November 16. If he tidies up that affair in victorious fashion as most believe he will, then the New Jersey native can really delve into the various fight promoters available to him. PBC has the lure of Gervonta Davis, Golden Boy houses Ryan Garcia while Devin Haney remains very chummy with Matchroom Boxing. So, only time will tell what Fearless does next, but rest assured 3Kings Boxing will be on the scene to provide the play-by-play.
