Shakur Stevenson: I’m the real bogeyman in boxing, no one even mentions my name

Former featherweight titlist Shakur Stevenson moved up to 130 pounds last year looking for bigger fights, but so far hasn’t found any takers just yet, and it sounds like he’s getting a little frustrated.

The 23-year-old Stevenson (15-0, 8 KO) did fight twice in 2020, beating Felix Caraballo and Toka Kahn Clary in mismatch outings, the latter coming on short notice to save Top Rank’s final show of the year.

Stevenson took to social media to vent his frustration a bit:

Now, it has to be said that Stevenson is in line to face the winner of the WBO title fight between Jamel Herring and Carl Frampton, which is coming on Feb. 27. And he could also be there for the winner of the Feb. 20 WBC title fight between Miguel Berchelt and Oscar Valdez, too.

For the time being, it’s probably smart to figure Shakur will take another stay-busy type of fight while those guys get through the coming bouts. The other titlists at 130 are Joseph Diaz Jr (IBF), faces Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov on Feb. 13, and Gervonta Davis has the WBA’s “super world” title, though he’s probably fighting at lightweight going forward. The WBA’s “world” title is held by Roger Gutierrez, who is frankly not on the radar of the real top guys at the weight.

Promoter Bob Arum has talked a bit about Stevenson possibly even moving up to 135 pounds by the end of 2021, maybe for a fight with lightweight king Teofimo Lopez. What he does remains to be seen, but Stevenson says he wants “the smoke,” as it were, and it’s honestly not surprising nobody’s been knocking down his door to get him in the ring. He’s got the sort of skill set that often results in a fighter being avoided, and while he’s a Top Rank and ESPN favorite, he doesn’t have the star power to become a desired target, and he also doesn’t have a belt.