Shakur Stevenson, the future pound-for-pound king?
Plus tons of other random boxing thoughts: Jared Anderson, Keyshawn Davis moving quickly; Taylor-Lopez talks; who should Mendoza fight next after upset?; Akhmadaliev: stop crying; AJ decision no shock
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I thought Shakur Stevenson looked absolutely sensational in his one-sided sixth-round destruction of Shuichiro Yoshino in their WBC lightweight title eliminator Saturday. Yoshino may not be pound-for-pound material but he was undefeated and a good fighter with a solid resume and Stevenson didn’t just beat him down. He made him look like he didn’t belong in the ring with him.
Stevenson can do things you don’t see a lot of young fighters do. He’s already defensively brilliant on a Floyd Mayweather level. And Stevenson didn’t hit-and-run his way to a win. He spent time in the pocket and made Yoshino miss and then made him pay — dearly. In his lightweight debut, Stevenson looked physically stronger than he did than when he was at lightweight and before that featherweight. He may never be a knockout artist but he will keep opponents honest with his power.
He looks like a future pound-for-pound king and he probably already should be viewed in the top 5. I’d favor him over any lightweight in the world, including the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko winner (though I’d love to see that winner and Stevenson fight). I also think Stevenson would do just fine with top junior welterweights and figure eventually he will be a welterweight.
In the immortal words of Mayweather: Skills pay the bills. Stevenson has them to burn.
