Shakur Stevenson will face William Zepeda in the toughest fight of his career so far on July 12th.
Shakur Stevenson has already irritated boxing fans ahead of his fight with William Zepeda after speaking ill of a boxing icon.
Stevenson will headline The Ring’s third card in New York, with Hamzah Sheeraz vs Edgar Berlanga featuring as the co-main event. Sheeraz is eyeing redemption after his draw with Carlos Adames.
Stevenson, who beat Josh Padley last time out, is already under scrutiny ahead of his fight due to recent comments from Turki Alalshikh regarding fighters who run rather than engage, but is now under fire from fans for a completely different reason.
Shakur Stevenson trashes Sugar Ray Robinson’s boxing career
In a clip from the Cigar Talk podcast, host Naji and Shakur are conversing about boxing legends.
Once Sugar Ray Robinson’s name is brought up, Stevenson, who thinks he has more KO power than Zepeda, expresses his highly controversial opinion on the icon.
“I YouTubed him, it was buns. Boxing has evolved. Sugar Ray Robinson didn’t even know how to pick his hands up! Go watch him fight Jake Lamotta, he was hitting [him] with nonstop hooks over & over. You ain’t never seen that with Bud!”
Robinson retired in 1965 with a record of 174-19-6. He was a middleweight champion and boasted over 100 knockout victories.
Fans were largely baffled by his comments, and saw his words as disrespectful to one of the legends who made boxing what it is.
‘Shakur ain’t the brightest’… Fans react to Stevenson’s comments
After the clip surfaced it seems fans have had a lot to say on the matter.
One wrote: “Shakur tweaking on this one. I mean he’s right as far as boxing evolving, but if Shakur was alive during that time fighting at welterweight-middleweight. Robinson would’ve gave em belt.”
Another came forward with a stark comparison between the two fighters:
“Ain’t even being funny but shakur been a pro 8 years, his biggest fight was Valdez he’s 23 fights in after 8 years as a pro. SRR done 23 fights in just under a year lol , in a 8 year period he went 85-1-1, 87 fights almost treble what shakur could accomplish in the same time.”
Shakur’s fight with Edwin De Los Santos set the record for fewest punches thrown in a 12-round fight, and so fans are not wrong to criticize the champion for going after an all-time-great who feared no one.