“You are not elite” – Shakur Stevenson gave the ugly truth

Shakur Stevenson stood up when retired former world champion Antonio Tarver said Floyd ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield would be a “big fight” for him to be tested to see how he does before facing Gervonta Davis.

WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) said Tarver should not compare the 22-year-old Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) to “the elites,” meaning himself. Shakur points out that Schofield’s muscles don’t mean he has hitting power.

Schofield looked powerful with the shots that hit Mexican fighter Rene Tellez Giron in their fight last Saturday night in Las Vegas. The punches Schofield took in that fight would have hurt anyone in the 135-lb division, including Shakur.

Shakur Stevenson: “What type (stuff) does he smoke? He compares the little kid (Schofield) to the elite. Can’t compare mediocre skills to elite level skills, and just because you have muscle doesn’t mean you have strength,” Shakur said. Xresponding to Antonio Tarver saying he needs to fight Floyd Schofield to see how he does against him before facing Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.

Antonio Tarver on Breezy Esco: “If Shakur can handle the miniature tank (Floyd Schofield), he should be ready for the full tank (Gervonta Davis), and with this kid’s style, it will give us a good look at Davis-Stevenson.”

The reality is that the 27-year-old Shakur has not proven himself to be an elite fighter during his seven-year professional career. He has looked average since moving up to 135 in 2023. Shakur is NOT an elite level fighter, and he is not even an A level fighter based on his lightweight performance.

His best win at lightweight was against Edwin Delos Santos last year on November 16, and it was highly questionable as he was constantly moving and trying to get away from the knockout artist. It was a very poor performance from Shakur, who was loudly booed by the fans at ringside that night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

In Shakur’s last fight against Artem Harutyunyan on July 6, his promoters at Top Rank slammed him for a poor punch that came after a loss and a long layoff. He still fought poorly and showed no willingness to engage.

The crowd started booing and left the Prudential Center arena by the sixth round, unhappy with what they had seen from Shakur, the hometown fighter from Newark, New Jersey. That lackluster performance from Shakur confirmed that he is NOT anything close to an elite level fighter. The fight showed that Shakur does not have the style to entertain fans due to his absence of power and withdrawn approach to his fights. He won’t engage, even against a weak puncher like Harutyunyan.

Schofield Sr., the father of ‘Kid Austin’, posted his rebuttal on Shakur’s comment saying, “You are NOT elite. You are a second place Olympian (Note: Shakur lost to Cuba Robey Ramirez in the finals of the 2016 Olympics) that all taxi drivers fought. What battle was your battle for “elite?”

Shakur doesn’t belong in this era

Floyd Sr. is 100% correct about Shakur not being an elite fighter because he hasn’t proven it, and he is a prime example of a deluded person who lives in a fantasy world and sees things in himself that don’t exist ​not. Shakur doesn’t belong in this era of the sport. He is a throwback to the past Mayweather era before the internet, cable television and other combat sports.

In this era, a fighter needs to have an entertaining style to attract interest and not ruin things for their promoters with their network deals. Shakur’s style would have been tolerated in the ancient past, but now. You have to entertain and he is unable to do that. Schofield has a better style to entertain fans and become a star in this era.

William Zepeda will likely finish Shakur when they fight on February 22 in Riyadh. Zepeda is a rising star in the lightweight division with a fighting style that is fan-friendly and one that could make him a major PPV attraction with a knockout win over Shakur.