Shakur Stevenson will be taking his chances of getting a giant mega-million offer on the free agent market after turning down a massive $15 million contract extension from his promoters at Top Rank.
Bob Arum’s Top Rank was offering WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) a deal that would have required a minimum of $3 million per fight, which apparently wasn’t enough for him to accept.
Potential Suitors and Uncertain Future
Shakur’s options are believed to be between Matchroom, PBC, and Mayweather Promotions. None of them can guarantee success with his future, as he’s not looked good since his win over Shuichiro Yoshino in April 2023.
Whoever signs Shakur as a free agent will likely need to top the $15 million that Top Rank was offering to extend his contract with them, and he might not be worth it.
He doesn’t entertain the fans, and his last two fights against De Lo Santos and Harutyunyan showed he couldn’t beat Gervonta Davis or Vasily Lomachenko without a controversial decision. Those fighters are too popular for them to be treated in the same way De Los Santos in his controversial loss to Shakur last November.
A promotional company should only sign Shakur as a free agent if it’s a one-fight deal, and even then, only if they have a big fight available against a killer like Gervonta Davis, Vasily Lomachenko, William Zepeda, or Andy Cruz. Signing Shakur to a long-term deal would be a bad risk and not worth any money.
Shakur Not Designed for Lightweight
There’s a growing belief that Shakur isn’t cut out for the lightweight division and would be better off returning from whence he came at 130 or 126. The paydays are smaller in those divisions, but that’s where Shakur has his best chance of looking good due to his size advantage.
Stevenson is similar to Adrien Broner, who wasn’t the same fighter when he moved up from 130 to 147. It’s the same thing. Shakur’s punches have little pop, forcing him to move around the ring to win his fights.
Last Saturday, Shakur broke the mold aggressively against the light-hitting Artem Harutyunyan and won a twelve-round unanimous decision at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. However, Shakur could fight like that because of Harutyunyan’s lack of punching power and hand speed. He had the ideal opponent for him to stand and trade, yet he still couldn’t put a dent in this guy.
Gervonta Davis’ assistant coach, Kenny Ellis, commented about Shakur’s inability to knock out Harutyunyan. He feels Abdullah Mason would have knocked Harutyunyan out. He’s only 20 years old and was fighting on the undercard last Saturday despite having shown more ability to be a crowd-pleaser and a true star.
