Tim Bradley believes a fight between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Shakur Stevenson will prove who is the best fighter in the 135-lb division if it happens. Bradley considers those two to be the best fighters in the lightweight division, and thinks it’s a fight that will happen.
Shakur’s Struggles at 135
Stevenson has only fought three times since moving up to 135 and has looked bad in two games. Those matches raised a big question mark about Shakur’s performance at 135, and that’s not between the top two fighters in the division.
Hearn thinks Shakur, 27, may lose, but fans who saw his fight with Edwin De Los Santos last November saw it differently.
Shakur doesn’t have the strength and doggedness to stand up and fight in the pocket against lightweights who can pack a punch. Against Zepeda and Tank, Shakur will need to find a part of his game that he hasn’t shown during his career.
Tank-Shakur may not happen if WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) loses to William Zepeda next February. That’s the fight that Shakur’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has lined up for him after taking a pre-match with Joe Cordina on October 12 in Riyadh.
“I hope so. I don’t see why not,” said Tim Bradley on YouTube’s Title Sports Network when asked if he believed a fight between Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson would ever happen. they understand that.”
Tank vs. Shakur will happen next year, as long as Stevenson knows his place and doesn’t price himself foolishly, thinking he deserves a 50-50 split. If he does that, he won’t get a fight and he won’t get a chance because he’s not on Davis’ level in terms of marketing.
“It’s about competition. Gervonta Davis believes he is the best at 135 pounds, but he has other guys who think they are better. So, now you have to fight. Put it together to find out who is the best for us to see.
“I don’t care if the war will be boring. No, put the best together in the ring. Well, it’s between two fighters. It’s between Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta Davis. “The only way we can get them in the ring,” Bradley said when asked who he sees as the best fighter in the 135 lb division.
You can’t say Shakur is among the top two in the lightweight division because he hasn’t looked impressive in two of three fights since moving up to 135 in 2023. What Shakur’s fight with Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos showed is that he is not a 126 or 130 fighter.
He is not comfortable with the strength of his opponents, and his punches do not have the power to hurt them or make them retreat. Surprisingly, Bradley doesn’t see that. Is he starting to lose his powers, or has he never been a good judge of fighters?
– William Zepeda
– Raymond Muratalla
– Keyshawn Davis
– Edwin De Los Santos
– Andy Cruz
– Floyd Schofield
– Abdullah Mason
At least four of those fighters will beat Shakur easily and should be considered as potential contenders for Tank. Mason, Zepeda, Cruz, and Schofield could have a good chance of defeating Shakur, even with the set of judges who worked his fight with De Los Santos last year.
Those judges were giving Shakur laps where he was running, and it wasn’t fair. With the above four fighters, they would rule out the match with Shakur.
“I think everyone will be surprised what that fight will look like. I was rooting for Shakur at one point, but his last few games threw me off a bit. It is more from a technical point of view. People think I hate the kid because he’s not on Top Rank or ESPN.
“That’s not really true. There are certain things he does in the ring that Tank can take advantage of, and there are certain things that Tank can take advantage of in certain areas. I think it’s a closer fight than I thought it would be based on the latest research that we’ve seen. The latest results we’ve seen are Shakur and Tank Davis,” said Bradley.
When Shakur stood up and fought his last opponent in the pack, Artem Harutyunyan, he was badly beaten and looked disfigured in their fight on July 6 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. That fight showed that Shakur was too weak to go up against fighters and would be in trouble against Zepeda, Tank, or any of the other heavy hitting lightweights in the division.
Source link
