Shakur Stevenson says his nickname should be ‘The Boodeyman’ because he believes “everyone” in the lightweight division are “scared” of him.
Stevenson is in a position where he wants the biggest fights to become a PPV star, but he’s become too focused on money and is missing out on the fights that would increase his popularity.
In other words, Stevenson is putting the cart before the horse and greatly slowing down his process of becoming a superstar.
His ego is getting in the way, and he feels that what he accomplished in the 2016 Olympics with his silver medal and his two-division world titles means more than it actually does.
The reality is most casual boxing fans in the U.S. ignore the Olympics nowadays, and what Shakur accomplished at 126 & 130 is meaningless because divisions aren’t closely followed by people.
Only now, fans are paying attention to Shakur’s career with him moving up to lightweight, and he’s only had one fight against little-known Shuichiro Yoshino.
Shakur (20-0, 10 KOs) hasn’t been able to get the fights he wants against Devin Haney, Frank Martin & Vasily Lomachenko, to name just a few, and he’s not happy about it.
With that said, Stevenson has been his own worst enemy by turning down an offer from undisputed lightweight champion Haney and not offering a deal to Martin that he chose not to take.
Top Rank are good at managing fighters and moving them, but they don’t always move them quickly enough.
For example, Terence Crawford is only now become popular after slogging away for 15 years as a pro. He could have become a star faster if he’d moved up to 154 & 160, but he didn’t, and now he’s old at 36.
It would have been so much faster for Crawford if he’d given up on the 147-lb division and moved up in weight years ago because he would have already fought Jermell Charlo and some of the other big names to become a star.
If Shakur can’t get the fights he wants at 135, he needs to consider moving up to 140 & 147 unless he wants to wait around until he’s 36 or 37 before he finally gets the fights he needs to become a star.
“Maybe 147. I’ve sparred 154-pounders,” said Shakur Stevenson to Showtime Sports when asked what the highest weight he sees himself moving to.
“I sparred with him [junior middleweight Brian Mendoza] when I was a 126-pounder. No cap. Honestly, I feel like I can go up and fight anybody. I feel my skills are going to carry through the weight classes,” said Stevenson.
“We got to find a nickname for Shakur Stevenson. You are too great and too good not to have a nickname that just jumped off the street. How you thought about it?” said Brian Custer.
“No, I haven’t thought about it. I think nicknames should come to people,” said Shakur. “I ain’t really looking for it, but if someone was to call me something right now, it would be the ‘Boogeyman’ because I think everyone at 135 is scared of me,” said Stevenson.
