Shakur Stevenson Gives Respect to Edwin De Los Santos
In what is becoming a rather annoying trend, WBC lightweight champion “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson (21-0, 10 KO’s) has announced his sham retirement. Little to no one believes in the sincerity of this declaration. Apparently not even Fearless is holding all that firm with this notion. This is why in a recent Q&A with Fight Hype, he made reference to coming back and expressed respect for one-time foe Edwin De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KO’s).
“Like I said, I respect Edwin De Los Santos because he took a fight with me and I had posted a little thing on InstaGram about what he said. And it is respect amongst each other no matter how much he likes to troll. I keep it real. It was a good fight between me and him, he got finessed. And I stand on that, I’m going to keep telling everybody that.”
NO-LUCK CHUCK
Since gelling into the lightweight division, the matches that Stevenson has wanted have eluded him. Vasiliy Lomachenko openly dismissed the idea of a showdown. WBA 135-pound champion Abdul “Tank” Davis and social media phenomenon Ryan Garcia have also displayed no particular interest in dancing with the New Jersey native.
Unwilling to pay the million dollar tab, Stevenson haughtily abandoned negotiations with Frank Martin. He also opted to avoid ever entering into serious negotiations with then undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney. And in his last match, Fearless choreographed one of the most boring, fearful looking prizefights in recent memory.
The culmination of his current squirrelly reputation with the fans and barren menu of meaningful potential opponents sent Stevenson into a tizzy that resulted in a retirement tantrum. Confronted with this dry ledger of opponents, Fearless might want to rematch De Los Santos.
SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT
One the hand, Stevenson refuses to outline the specifics of his physical handicaps going into the duel with De Los Santos. And on the other hand, the New Jersey native won’t stop referencing those same injuries. Naturally, this is frustrating to many observers. So rather than merely insisting a healthy version of himself washes De Los Santos, he can literally prove it.
Neither have a fight on the books, Stevenson has given De Los Santos his respect and it would potentially do wonders for his reputation and public perception. Mending one’s reputation seems more pressing than pouting about perceived slights. Yet, for the time being, we will just have to sit back and see what is next in store for the pseudo-retired Shakur Stevenson.
“At the end of the day, I can only control what I can control and that’s me and my situation. I just got to stay focused and hopefully wait until an opportunity shows up that makes me get up and get out of my seat and come out of retirement.”
