Shakur Stevenson Takes Shots At Former Promoter Bob Arum
At the current moment, WBC lightweight champion “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KO’s) is in search of a new promotional company. Even prior to his final contracted bout, versus Artem Harutyunyan, it was clear that it was not smooth sailing with his last promotional company, Top Rank. Now that he is officially gone, it’s clear that Stevenson harbors a rift with the company and the number one figured head Bob Arum. In a recent sit down with Cigar Talk, Fearless explored his feelings in a bit more detail.
“Bob ain’t never talked like that when I was signed with Top Rank, right? He ain’t never said nothing bad. When my contract up, he started talking spicy! I can’t really pay nothing he say any mind. I watched skims of his interview; I couldn’t watch that because, at the end of the day, Bob is not a real nigga. Bob don’t run Top Rank! Bob is just the face. He’s ninety-some years old, it’s a hundred people in the background that really run the company and tell Bob what to do. Bob is not the guy, Bob is just the guy y’all do interviews with and he say wild, crazy shit! They run Bob!”
A ROCKY ROAD AHEAD
Given his severely advanced age, it is not farfetched to believe that Arum has taken a serious back seat to much of the day-to-day operations of the company. Yet, even if Arum was nothing more than the public mouthpiece for the company, he is still highly visible and very respected in boxing circles. With this being the case, especially with Stevenson looking for a new promotional home, it is far from a wise decision to cast aspersions on his former promotional company and its beloved founder.
This dynamic is greatly compounded by the fact that Stevenson’s name is currently being drug through the mud in virtually all boxing circles. The boxing fans have near unanimously labeled his past two performances as snoozers and nothing that they want to see again any time soon. Yet, much like with Arum, Fearless is routinely thumbing his nose at the public via his social media accounts and telling the paying public that he doesn’t care about their opinion.
Again, ridiculing your former promoter and telling the consumer to kick rocks is not a strategic way to go about searching for a new promoter. Furthermore, Stevenson is looking to secure the most lucrative contract of his professional career. So it will be interesting to see how this plays out for the WBC lightweight champion over the next several weeks and months. Hopefully for him, he will not have to learn from experience why it’s unwise to burn unnecessary bridges.
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