Bob Arum Attributes Shakur’s Subpar Performance Against De Los Santos To A Shoulder Injury

Shakur Stevenson entered his fight against Edwin De Los Santos with a shoulder injury. 

That is according to Top Rank’s Bob Arum. Stevenson managed to get the better of his opponent to win the vacant WBC lightweight belt via a unanimous decision. And in doing so, Shakur became a three-weight world champion.

However, the performance did not go down very well with the crowd who began to boo during numerous points of the fight. After all, Stevenson threw 21 shots with his left hand, which was unheard of given that he is a southpaw. But now Arum has said that this was because of an injury with the following comments. 

Arum On Stevenson

“I think that Shakur had to fight the fight he did because I think he had some injuries, that kinda thing. I mean, I know we had him visiting doctors in the weeks before the fight for various ailments. So, I think he therefore fought a very cautious fight.

I didn’t know specifically [what was wrong with Stevenson] because I was out of town “But [Top Rank’s] Dena [duBoef, Arum’s stepdaughter] reported to me that he went to see this doctor and that doctor for various ailments about two or three weeks leading up to the fight.

So, I was quite aware of that. It was a shoulder problem that he had. I don’t know specifically, but that’s what I was told not last night, but during the time that it was happening,” Arum said

Shakur’s Comments

Despite this being the case, it is important to bear in mind the following points. Prior to the fight happening, Stevenson was very vocal about how he would beat up De Los Santos. And since Shakur wants the biggest fights made in the lightweight division, those comments came back to haunt him.

Several boxers in the aftermath of his performance were very critical over how he performed. Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney were just two who expressed their dissatisfaction with what they had seen. This became more problematic as Stevenson refused to reveal if he had any issues in the post-fight comments. 

“I really don’t care about (being three-division champion. I had a bad performance tonight, that’s all I’m really focused on. I wasn’t feeling too good. I’ll live with it, it’s OK, I came here, got the victory, and that’s all I wanted to do. I don’t got nothin’ to say about that [my hand], I don’t make no excuses. It happens.

“We go through a lot as a fighter. I’m good. I just didn’t feel good. I didn’t feel good before the fight. Honestly, I already told myself, if I’m feeling like this in the ring and it’s not going well, I’ll make sure to box and get the victory. He’s got some punching power. He’s got good little defense and he’s a little tricky. He grabbed on the inside and stopped me from punching. He’s a good fighter,” Stevenson stated

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