“Keyshawn, Shakur gets all your detractors bro. Your second fiddle. Straight up,” Bradley said on his YouTube channel. “You’re second fiddle to Shakur. Shakur is daddy. Your son.”
The situation gets more complicated because Keyshawn and Shakur still refer to each other as brothers and have shown little interest in fighting each other. That leaves Keyshawn in an awkward spot at 140 pounds, as he is ranked No. 1 by the WBO while Shakur holds the title.
Unless Shakur moves up again or relinquishes the belt, Keyshawn’s route to a world title fight remains blocked by the same fighter Bradley says keeps moving in front of him.
This is a real career issue for Keyshawn, as he is already 27 and still chasing the breakthrough fight that will make him a big star.
The awkward part for Keyshawn is that his career slowed down at the wrong time. He is already 27, and he has not yet had the decisive battle that turns him into a real attraction. Instead, he’s headed for a rematch with Albright, a fight many fans already feel they’ve seen before.
Keyshawn recently said that Top Rank wanted the Albright rematch, but the bigger issue may be that there weren’t many realistic alternatives available. Bradley openly pointed to the risk-reward problem surrounding Keyshawn.
“Keyshawn’s a damn good fighter, but he doesn’t have enough for a fighter to be like, man, I’m willing to take that risk,” Bradley said.
That issue is unlikely to go away at lightweight or 140 because Keyshawn’s size has become part of the discussion. After missing weight by four pounds before the canceled fight with Edwin De Los Santos, many fans are already expecting him to move up.
At this point, Keyshawn might be better off stopping the constant talk of moving up and just doing it. A jump to welterweight or even junior middleweight could create fresher opportunities and remove some of the criticism surrounding his weight issues.
More importantly, fighters at 147 and 154 probably won’t treat Keyshawn the same way as smaller fighters. The danger factor changes once he is no longer the naturally bigger man who steps into the ring.
Bradley still picked Keyshawn to beat Albright in the rematch and predicted a stoppage if he performs like he did against Jermaine Ortiz.
