A lot has been made of the late replacement opponent who went nine rounds on Saturday night after stepping away from his part-time job as an electrician.
Josh Padley may have come up short in Riyadh but the 29-year-old Brit stole a lot of the headlines with his performance on just four days’ notice.
The odds were completely stacked against him at the Last Crescendo where he took on Shakur Stevenson after replacing Floyd Schofield on fight week.
Stevenson got the finish in the ninth round after dropping his opponent three times with body shots before Padley’s corner called the fight off.
Both men have received very different responses after the fight with Padley being praised for his display whilst Stevenson has come under some criticism.
Shakur Stevenson offers to party with Josh Padley in the UK
There was plenty of respect between the two men with Shakur Stevenson being happy to have an opponent on such short notice.
It was always going to be a massively uphill battle but all you can ask from a fighter in those circumstances is that they give it everything they have and Padley appeared to do that.
A quick interaction on social media showed the mutual respect between them with Stevenson hoping that this isn’t the only big opportunity that his former opponent will receive after suffering the first loss of his career.
With one of the biggest boxing cards of all time now behind us, it appears that Stevenson isn’t quite ready to put Padley in his rear-view mirror.
The 23-0 star announced on social media that he’s going to be in the Brit’s neck of the woods and would love to spend some of those Riyadh Season earnings with him.
“Just landed in the UK where my boy Josh Padley at let’s go get a section and party it up”
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The fight didn’t do Shakur Stevenson any favors
Josh Padley ended up being one of the biggest stories of this card, so much so that it totally overshadowed Shakur Stevenson getting another win.
Fight fans have known for a long time that the 27-year-old is incredibly talented with excellent defensive work in particular but his fights often receive criticism for not being entertaining.
In some ways, he was always going to be up against it in the court of public opinion this past weekend because anything other than a quick knockout, which could put him at risk, would be scrutanized.
He got his man out of there but the same people praising Padley’s display are the ones that are slating Stevenson for going nine rounds with a last minute opponent.