By: Sean Crose
“I feel like we’re fighters at the end of the day,” Shakur Stevenson announced on a social media live stream. Clearly agitated by the fact he’s not getting high level opposition, the 19-0 fighter called out some of the bigger names out there, such as Isaac Cruz and William Zepeda. “Sugar Ray Leonard and all of them dudes was 25, 24 fighting each other,” Stevenson said. “If I’m willing to make these fights happen and these dude’s not, y’all right to call them ducks.” Stevenson then differentiated himself from those he’s critical of. “I’m not ducking no smoke,” he said. “I’m not saying no to no fights.”
The 25 year spent some time zeroing in on Cruz. “Show me you’re a killer,” he said in reference to Cruz’ ferocious reputation. “I want to see how much of a killer you is, ‘Pitbull’.” William Zepeda wasn’t able to escape Stevenson’s wrath, either. “Zepeda, he’s slow as a motherfucker,” said Stevenson. “I don’t know why they think he’s a killer.” During the nearly half hour live stream, Stevenson made it a point to mention how seriously he takes the sport, how he spends much time in the gym and studies the history of the sweet science.
“They ain’t going to like this version of me,” Stevenson said of his potential competition seeing or hearing of the stream. He then went on to offer advice to fighters who are new to the game. “Young fighters, don’t believe everything that’s going on on social media,” he said. “Don’t let these other boxers influence y’all…stay in the gym, stay ready, stay in shape year round. You gotta always be in shape.” Stevenson indicated the kind of behavior young fighters should avoid. “A lot of these dudes they start making money and you only see them in the gym whenever it’s a fight date coming up,” he said.
“Make boxing your life,” he advised. “If you believe in yourself and believe in your talent this shit can change your life forever. All you have to do is apply yourself.” Stevenson then indicated that what young fighters see popular fighters do on Instagram should be taken with a grain of salt. “This shit’s not real life,” he said. Stevenson has won world titles in two weight divisions and will now be moving up to lightweight, one of the hottest divisions in the contemporary boxing scene.
