Boxing analyst Tim Bradley believes Shakur Stevenson made a mistake by not accepting the $15 million, five-fight, $3 million guaranteed per-fight deal offer to re-sign with Top Rank rather than hitting the free agent market.
Hope for a Lucrative Deal with Turki Alalshikh
Shakur might have turned down the $15 million because he’s holding out hope that Turki Alalshikh will give him a fortune to fight on his cards and won’t mind if he fights in a boring manner.
If that happens, it would be ideal for Shakur because he wouldn’t have to worry about entertaining fans and could fight the only way he knows how with his amateur point-scoring style that he’s failed to change since turning professional in 2017.
The style doesn’t fit in the pro ranks, where fighters are expected to sit down on their punches and be entertaining to sell tickets and PPVs.
Bradley feels that was a good offer and says WBC lightweight champion Shakur would have made more than his $3 million for fights against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Vasily Lomachenko.
Shakur might be under the impression that if he signs with PBC, they’ll give him the Tank Davis fight, a goldmine with a massive payday, likely far more than the $15M deal that Top Rank was offering.
Unrealistic Expectations from PBC and Matchroom
Stevenson might not get the same offer from PBC or Matchroom Boxing because they must know he will likely never be a PPV attraction or a ticket seller by now.
If Shakur gets the fight he’s looking for against Tank Davis, he’ll either be knocked out, run around the ring for 12 rounds as he did against Edwin De Los Santos, and lose a wide decision. There won’t be a gift decision for Shakur against Tank if he fights similarly as he did against De Los Santos.
If Shakur believes PBC can deliver him Tank, it would make sense for him to sign with them. Of course, PBC can’t force Tank Davis to fight Shakur if he feels he doesn’t want to fight him and deal with the running from him for twelve rounds.
Shakur would fight more defensively against Tank than he did last Saturday night against the weak puncher Artem Harutyunyan in Newark, New Jersey.
Top Rank’s Generous Offer
“Should he have taken that $15 million [offer from Top Rank] deal? Absolutely. He should have taken that $15 million deal. No doubt about it,” said Tim Bradley to Probox TV about the $15M Top Rank offered Shakur Stevenson to re-sign with them for a five-fight, $3 million per fight deal, which he rejected.
Shakur could come crawling back to Top Rank if he’s not offered a better or equal deal from other promoters or Turki. That would be a bad look on Shakur’s part, but it’s a real possibility. If you’re PBC or Matchroom, do you really want to sign Shakur after how he’s looked lately? I wouldn’t. Many exciting fighters may not be as good on defense, but they entertain the fans.
“You got to think about this. It’s a $3 million minimum. It doesn’t matter who he faces. If he faces Tank Davis, of course, he’s going to make more money,” said Bradley. “If he faces Lomachenko, of course, he’s going to make more money. That’s a baseline price right there.”
Shakur can forget about Lomachenko because he will probably never agree to fight him unless he’s paid an enormous amount of money. If he loses to Gervonta Davis in November, he’ll be useless to Shakur.
“People were leaving that arena. If he was going to get that knockout, people would have waited there to see it unfold. He missed that opportunity, and the reason he missed that opportunity is because he was arguing with his grandfather inside the corner,” said Bradley about Shakur failing to listen to his grandfather, who wanted him fight aggressively down the stretch
Stevenson would not get a knockout of Artem Harutyunyan last weekend, and it wouldn’t have mattered if he had fought with more aggression. It wasn’t going to happen.
“His grandfather was telling him, ‘I need you to step on the gas, and I need to step on it now.’ He didn’t listen. The window was there, and he didn’t get the stoppage,” said Bradley.
The Importance of Marketability
“As far as his marketability goes, it’s going to be hard for him,” Bradley said about Shakur. “I don’t know where he’s going to go from here. I don’t know if he’s going to go with Terence Crawford. Turki Alalshikh, is he going to invest in Shakur Stevenson?”
If Turki signs Shakur, who is he going to match him against? Will he make regular fights or put together crossover matches where he finds a popular MMA fighter and has him fight Shakur in a circus-level fight?
“He wants more money. I get it. I’m talking about marketability. If you are not putting people in the seats, it’s hard for you to demand as much money as this young man is demanding. $3 million is a lot of money,” said Bradley.
The way Shakur has performed, he’s not worth a $15 million contract and doesn’t rate more money than more entertaining younger fighters like Abdullah Mason.
“You don’t see a lot of guys making $3 million,” said Bradley.
