Shakur showed that the fight in him is second to none

NEW YORK – Even if he was an undefeated world champion with three divisions with a much higher profile than anyone on the map, Shakur Stevenson was relegated to the co -principal event of Ring 3 magazine by Turki Alashikh, the president of the general entertainment authority of Saudi Arabia, probably because of his fights which were not enough. Instead, Edgar Berlanga – who lost a terribly unilateral fight against Canelo Alvarez in September – was raised to the main event.

It was clear that Alshikh made a statement that he was against the idea of “Tom & Jerry Fights” (read: where a boxer extends from the other), and Stevenson’s latest fights, although dominant, correspond to the bill. Stevenson did not take much risks.

During the promotion of his defense of the WBC light title against William Zepeda in an offensive spirit, Stevenson promised that he would not flee his opponent. And when the fight took place at the Louis Armstrong stadium on Saturday, Stevenson not only kept his promise, but he delivered a unilateral break in Zepeda with a victory close to the laundering.

And after Hamzah Sheeraz suffered Berlanga, the supposed star of the show in five rounds, it was clear that Stevenson should never be a main event fighter again.

“I came here to prove a point,” said Stevenson after winning a unanimous decision. “It was not the performance that I was looking for because I came here trying to prove a point, I tried to fight. So, I took more punishment than usual. But at the end of the day, I told you everything you need to do the job.”

Stevenson won an absurdly high summit of 52.5% of his punches (295 out of 565) during the 12 -round combat. Zepeda, although occupied, had a hard time connecting against an opponent who was standing right in front of him, landing 272 of the 979 punches for 27.8%, according to Compubox.

By reading these figures, you wonder what Stevenson meant when he said that he had taken more punishment than usual. When Stevenson does not try to stay in his pocket, he uses his lateral movement to stay out of reach. According to Compubox, Stevenson allows at least landing compared to the other league caliber fighters, with a tiny 5.4 punches per turn. On Saturday, Zepeda won 22.6 punches per turn. But Stevenson won 10 of the 12 laps over two dashboards of the judges and 11 of the 12 laps on the third dashboard.

Declaration made.

“Shakur Stevenson shows that he is the real business with a huge victory over William Zepeda,” said Alashikh on X after the fight.

Whatever the reason he was for him in the co-printing event, the champion proved that he was good enough to win fights in the way he wants. He is a brilliant fighter who should not be forced to fight in a different way because occasional fans find this non -exciting.

Although the Knockouts are exciting, the beat of Sheeraz de Berlanga should not be expected of combatants to be in the main event. Boxing is an art, and the greatest practitioners of sweet science hope to leave sport with their intact minds. Penetrate brilliant fighters like Stevenson because their opponents are not good enough to beat them send the bad message. It is already a difficult sport and asking the fighters to help but entertain and abandon the defensive side of the game is absurd.

Stevenson showed what he could do when he felt like he needed it, but now the burden shouldn’t be on him. Instead, his opponents should work harder to find ways to beat him. I hope this is the last time that we have seen a fighter punished to be too good.