WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson says he wants to “steal the show” in his title defense against Floyd Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) on February 22nd in their undercard fight on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 card at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
If Newark, New Jersey native Stevenson wants to be more entertaining, that’s good. However, he seems unlikely to succeed due to his physical limitations and timid fighting style.
“Steal the Show”? Never!
Stevenson is not built for war, and he would have to be willing to put himself on the battlefield against Schofield to steal the show. He also needs a different body and head. It would have to be a Dr. Frankenstein who would fix Shakur to make him steal the show from Beterbiev-Bivol II. That glass hand will prevent Stevenson from taking the attention away from the main event.
Shakur’s safety-first style of fighting makes him the least likely of the undercard fighters to steal the limelight from the other talents on the card. He would have to abandon his play-it-safe style of fighting and not stand in the pocket but go after the 22-year-old Schofield looking to score a knockout in this fight.
In his last fight against the light-hitting Artem Harutyunyan, Shakur was more willing to engage than in many of his past contests. However, he threw single counter shots and could not hurt Artem. By the eighth round, Shakur’s hometown fans at the Prudential Center in Newark headed for the exits, no doubt bored like the viewers at home watching the contest on ESPN.
“I am coming to try to steal the show. I’m focused, I’m ready, I’ve been working hard, and I’m going to be in tip-top shape come fight night. You’re going to see the best versions of me,” said Shakur Stevenson to Fighthype about his plans on trying to steal the limelight in his fight against Schofield.
“It’s a level he’s not ready for. However it goes, I’m going to come out victorious. You can definitely see that fight,” said Shakur when asked if we can see a fight between him and Gervonta Davis this year.
“Once again, I’ve got Kid Austin I’ve got to focus on. He’s got Lamont Roach he’s got to focus on. We can’t look past our opponents. If one of us takes an L against one of those guys, there ain’t going to be a big fight between me and Tank. Let’s focus on the task at hand, and Kid Austin is my focus.”
If Shakur gets dropped two or three times by Floyd in a drama-filled win, that would be a good way for him to steal the show on February 22nd. There’s no chance of that happening. If Shakur got dropped by Schofield, he’d be on his bike the remainder of the fight, like he did against Edwin De Los Santos.
“Anybody can be undisputed in the right fight. Anybody can be a champion with the right person in front of them. I used to focus on the undisputed thing, but I realized how fake this whole game is. I don’t care about that s***,” said Shakur.
