Is Hearn Dumping Shakur Stevenson After His First Loss?

Eddie Hearn’s long-term interest in promoting Shakur Stevenson remains uncertain despite his enthusiastic comments about believing he is a future “world star.”
The relationship between the two will last as long as Shakur keeps winning. If Stevenson loses his first loss, he will be fish food, possibly thrown overboard by the British promoter.
No ‘Red Carpet’ for Shakur
Some believe Hearn will abandon hopes of turning Shakur, 27, into a “global” star after his first loss. Stevenson probably won’t be offered red carpet treatment like Anthony Joshua with a four-fight pseudo-fight process after a loss.
AJ brings in the perfect amount of money for his UK fights, and British fans will probably continue to pay to watch him no matter how many times he gets beaten. Things are different in the US, especially if you have a boring, unmotivated fighting style like Shakur Stevenson. Americans don’t want to pay to watch fighters run around the ring for 12 rounds like Shakur often does.
AJ lost two in a row, yet Hearn stuck by his side, showing loyalty and determination to keep his career going by artificially feeding him cans. Things will be different for Shakur. One loss could spell the end of his alliance with Hearn.
We’ll probably see Shakur get dumped by Hearn and give up after being taken out by William Zepeda or Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Rebuilding Shakur, like Hearn did to Joshua, will require an investment in money, time, and patience. If Shakur had been a major PPV attraction like AJ in the UK, Hearn would have been on board to rehabilitate him after Zepeda or Tank Davis turned him to dust. That is not the truth of this situation.
Shakur Can’t Sell
Shakur can’t sell tickets, and he’s not a PPV attraction. Hearn will see for himself next month when Shakur headlines the undercard against Joe Cordina on October 12 on PPV for $14.99.
Hearn won’t want to deal with the headaches of dealing with high-paying opponents in order to agree to a fight with Shakur, and he certainly won’t be interested in overpaying because of the disparity.
If Hearn thought it was a nightmare trying to fight IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis against the champ at 147, just wait and see what it will be like if he tries to get Shakur’s fight back at 135. Zepeda or Tank beats him.
Without the Honorable Turki Alalshikh to help fund Shakur’s opponents, I don’t see Hearn wanting to come up with the money to rebuild Shakur after he gets blasted into the next galaxy by Zepeda or Tank.
Battles You Must Win
Matchroom promoter Hearn has the three-fight schedule for WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs):
- Joe Cordina
- William Zepeda
- Gervonta Davis
There’s a good chance that Shakur’s short run as one of Hearn’s Matchroom heavyweights will end with his fight with Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs). We’ve seen Hearn give up American fights before after they failed to become stars for him. Another example was Demetrius Andrade.
Hearn made a low-key attempt to make him a star, comparing him mainly to British fighters at the domestic level and then chose not to renew Andrade’s contract when he failed to gain popularity. He didn’t really think about how he had messed up work with Demetrius, and now he was doing the same thing with Shakur.
Stevenson has never fought a pressure fighter who throws more punches, cuts across the ring, and has the power of Zepeda. I see Shakur losing that fight and getting completely taken down in one issue.
It will be a fun three rounds, but Zepeda will get to Shakur in the fourth round and knock him out like he did to reliever Giovanni Cabrera on July 6.
🔥 @ShakurStevenson lab 🥼🧪
📸 via shakurstevenson/IG pic.twitter.com/0nxbLrvOGT
– DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) September 8, 2024