Fans Rip Shakur Stevenson’s Sparring Injury – ‘His Hands Are Brittle’
Fans have ripped Shakur Stevenson after footage of his hand injury was released.
Stevenson pulled out of his Joe Cordina fight on October 12 after breaking a tendon in his right hand during sparring. The news left the boxer devastated after recently signing up to Matchroom. The aim was for Shakur to face Cordina and then box his WBC mandatory William Zepeda.
Two wins would have increased the calls for Shakur to get the unification fight with Gervonta Davis. Eddie Hearn expects Shakur to be ready by early next year. The following video is of Shakur hitting his sparring partner to the body. Stevenson threw a right hand to the body, after which he cried out in pain and dropped to the floor.
Stevenson’s Injuries
The perception is that Shakur has brittle hands. After his performance against Edwin De Los Santos, where Shakur was booed for his defensive style, it turned out he had an injury coming into the fight. Shakur then revealed he injured both hands in his last fight against Artem Harutyunyan. This may explain Shakur’s reluctance to let his hands go in fear of getting injured.
“Yeah, both of them. They’re fragile. I’m going to get them stronger in the offseason,” Stevenson said
“Listen, Shakur did what he normally does. He boxes them, and he wins, but I talked to him last night, and [he stated that] both of his hands were hurt. I talked to his cousin, and he said he’s always hurting his hands when he’s punching,” Derek Ennis
That could prove pivotal moving forward if he does face Tank Davis. Gervonta is often criticized for getting outboxed in the earlier before he stops his opponents. However, there is an argument that Davis uses the earlier rounds to get a taste of his opponent’s power. If Davis does not respect it, he closes the distance and walks his man down. This was evident in his last fight against Frank Martin. Martin was outboxing Davis for the first few rounds.
Shakur’s Issues
But he did not have the power to earn Davis’ respect, as Tank stopped him. If Shakur does not have that pop, Davis could knock him out. Floyd Mayweather developed his style from knocking people out to becoming a defensive master later in his career. Shakur could follow that blueprint since Mayweather also experienced hand problems.
But to do that, Shakur must become more offensive. He was working with Terence Crawford for the Cordina fight with the purpose of throwing more combinations. Crawford showed his power by stopping all of his opponents at 147. But to do that, Shakur has been advised to ignore the background noise coming his way.
“I told him to stop listening to the people and stop listening to the crowd talking about you. You ain’t got to be cussing at them. Don’t let them take you off the square. You won the fight, and now you got to go back in the lab. You got out there and fight and do what you have to do,” said Bozy when asked how Shakur can handle his business. I told Shakur last night to let his hands go a little bit more, and he would have stopped him. He was waiting and throwing one or two shots,” Derek Ennis stated
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