Shakur And Teofimo Lopez Ducked Raymond Muratalla – ‘Look Who They Are Facing’
Robert Garcia has slammed Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez for ducking Raymond Muratalla.
Stevenson is reportedly in line to face Artem Harutyunyan, while Lopez will face Steve Claggett. However, both boxers have been accused of fighting less-known names. Shakur was linked with William Zepeda and the Devin Haney fight. Neither of those materialized. Oscar De La Hoya said Zepeda’s future was elsewhere, while Ryan Garcia will face Haney despite concerns over his mental health.
Lopez has struggled to make big unification fights with his WBO Junior Welterweight belt. He struggled in his first defence against Jamaine Ortiz, despite getting a unanimous decision win. While Lopez landed more power punches, Ortiz connected with more punches in the fight. Now, Garcia has accused both boxers of avoiding Muratalla.
Shakur And Lopez
“100%. They told us a few weeks ago if it was available if we could move up and prefer going up to 140 to challenge Teofimo. Since all the 135s are also doing the same, not choosing Raymond [Muratalla] as their next opponent, I said I’m open to do it, but it looks like Teofimo chose to fight somebody else [Steve Claggett] too.
“The other belts are vacant, so we can’t talk about those guys [at lightweight] because we don’t know who is going to win, obviously. Loma will more likely win [against George Kambosos Jr. for the vacant IBF 135-lb title], and [Emanuel] Navarrete will likely win [against Denis Berinchyk for the vacant WBO belt on May 18th], but we have to wait to see who wins. Shakur, we did the same thing with Shakur, and he chose to fight some guy [Artem Harutyunyan] that lost his last fight [against Frank Martin],” Garcia stated
Muratalla is a dangerous fighter whose record stands at 20-0. 16 of his wins have come by way of knockout. He has four knockouts in his last five bouts. Shakur has shown he struggles against power punches.
His performance against De Los Santos showed that, as he continued to fight off the back foot, De Los Santos wanted to close the distance. Lopez knows he cannot afford another bad performance after seeing his stock fall. Despite being a two-weight and two-time lineal champion, he struggles to sell out arenas. Losing to a rising prospect would not help him do that.
Joshua’s Next Step
Elsewhere, Derek Chisora says that Anthony Joshua will face the winner of Daniel Dubois and Filip Hrgovic next. Dubois and Hrgovic are set to face each other on June 1. Hrgovic is the IBF Interim Heavyweight Champion, making him mandatory for the winner of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk.
They will compete on the Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev undercard. However, the full IBF Heavyweight Title could be up for grabs if the winner of Fury-Usyk is stripped. Since Joshua and Hrgovic are with Matchroom Boxing, there is potential to make that fight depending on how the results play out.
“He will fight the winner of Daniel Dubois and [Filip] Hrgovic in Wembley,” Chisora said
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