27-year-old American boxer Shakur Stevenson just won the absolute points after 12 rounds against “The Original” Artem Harutyunyan - in the defense of the WBC lightweight championship on July 6. According to fans, this result is not too impressive, but Stevenson still called Vasily Lomachenko...
After 12 rounds, Shakur won with absolute scores from the 3 judges: 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112. If you only look at the scores, you will be deceived.
In fact, Shakur's performance had no highlights, nor did it create any major breakthroughs, even though Artem was not a very famous opponent.
That's why, even though he was fighting in his hometown (the Prudential Arena is located in Newark, New Jersey, where Shakur was born 27 years ago), he was not supported by his family. The crowd of over ten thousand people kept booing, and some even left early.
On social media, Shakur's colleagues, both male and female, criticized his poor performance in successfully defending his WBC lightweight championship!
Fellow boxer Alycia Baumgardner wrote on Twitter: “I think Shakur is a great fighter. He has the full skill set, but I can’t stand his urgency and aggression in the ring. Am I the only one who sees this?”
Finding himself out of place on his “home turf,” Shakur justified the boos for Artem, saying his opponent was “running away” and trying to “survive” until the end.
Despite his poor performance, despite his contract with Top Rank expiring after this fight, he still wants to fight Lomachenko, who is represented by Top Rank.
Shakur took the initiative to wear an “aggressive” and “attention-grabbing” T-shirt that read: “Bob Arum is trying to save his son Vasily Lomachenko from the fight.”
“That’s my message right now,” Shakur said afterward. “Tell him to fight me. Wouldn’t that be a fun fight? Someone comes in and tries to win. A fun fight, technically, it would be great.”
Shakur continued to “provoke”: “Maybe, there are many people right now saying, Lomachenko will beat him. He cannot stop this man.”
“A lot of people still don’t believe in me. So why not make it happen? Otherwise, he probably doesn’t want to fight me,” Shakur quipped.
Right now, at this point in time, it’s very difficult for Lomachenko to face Shakur. First of all, there won’t be a huge prize money to back this fight, because after what Shakur has just shown, no promotion company dares to sponsor him.
Second, Lomachenko (who currently holds the IBF lightweight title after defeating George Kambosos Jr. in May) will likely step aside, leaving the stage temporarily open for the “Tank” WBA beltholder Gervonta Davis. The Ukrainian will not fight until at least next year!
D.Hg.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/shakur-stevenson-thang-diem-khong-qua-an-tuong-truoc-artem-harutyunyan-van-goi-ten-vasily-lomachenko-post748165.html
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