Shakur Stevenson acknowledges his lackluster performance
In his last outing, super featherweight standout “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson (16-0, 8 KO’s) thoroughly dominated his opposition. Over twelve rounds he outclassed and outworked Namibian boxer Jeremia Nakathila en route to a commanding unanimous decision win. In fact, he won every round on all three of the judge’s scorecards. However, boxing is a trick sport. Beyond being the dominant competitor, the fighters are also required to be engaging entertainers. This was the box that Stevenson failed to check in his headlining dust-up.
Sure his defense was on point and he beat Nakathila to the punch all night but he was monotonous and dull in doing so. In a strange way, his dominance almost worked against him. At home and in the stands, the viewing public simply wanted him to step on the gas. Obviously he was the more capable fighter, so why was he not taking any additional chances? As this inquiry went unanswered round after round, many fans grew bored with the contest. During the broadcast, Tim Bradley, Andre Ward and Terence Crawford all were caught on air saying they wished Fearless would step up the pressure.
BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME
Clearly Stevenson was not oblivious to what was being said. Shortly after the fight, the New Jersey native took to his social media to apologize for the performance.
Sure, Stevenson does admit he played a role in the less than exciting prizefight. Yet, he did not miss his opportunity to share some of that blame with Nakathila in the post-fight conference.
“I still feel like I had an awkward fighter in front of me. Real awkward, real scary and he knew how to do just enough to keep me from jumping on him. But at the end of the day, I am going to get back to the gym and work on some things and keep getting better and better. My next performance will be better than this one.”
WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD
At the moment, it is uncertain what will come next for Stevenson. Personally he has been acutely outspoken on his desire to face WBC World Super Featherweight champion Oscar Valdez. Valdez is coming off of his sensational tenth round obliteration of Miguel Berchelt. Yet, Fearless is actually ranked #1 by the WBO, making him the mandatory challenger for WBO World Super Featherweight champion Jamel Herring. To this point however, Herring has expressed no desire to face Stevenson and would rather secure a unification bout. Only time will tell who Fearless ends up trading leather with next.
By: Bakari Simpson
