Can Shakur Stevenson Overcome A Hand Injury To Survive The Lightweight Division Slayers?

Coach Andre Rozier is questioning whether Shakur Stevenson can come back from his recent right injury to be the fighter he once was, and he doesn’t know if he can handle a guy like Gervonta Davis.

To have any chance against the WBA lightweight champion, Tank, fighters must be 100%, hit hard, and not go down in pain after landing a punch. Shakur has nothing against Tank.

He can’t win a decision, only throwing jabs, weak right hands, and running around the ring. The judges gave Shakur a gift in his fight with Edwin De Los Santos, but he can’t expect the same special treatment against talents like Tank.

That’s possible for Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) because he’s had hand problems since moving up to 135 last year. That’s why he struggled against Edwin De Los Santos last year in November, and the same problem caused the withdrawal of his October 12 defense against Joe Cordina.

When fighters start to suffer from hand problems, it’s a long-term thing. They cannot have bionic hand surgically attached. Shakur has never been strong, or healthy, but with his hand issues, he will be at the mercy of Tank and the other killers at 135, just waiting to destroy him.

“I’m 100% Gervonta Davis, and I think he’s the hardest-working of anybody at 135,” coach Andre Rozier told Pro Boxing fans. “He has a natural combination of power, accuracy, and precision, and is very economical with his attacks.

“If he gets you into trouble, it’s a wrap. I’m always Team Gervonta Davis, and I think he’s going to reign for a very long time. We don’t know what we’re going to get out of Shakur. He is coming back from a hand injury. So, we don’t know.

“He is a good fighter. You can control distance and distance. We need to know if he still has the ability to do that with his hands. We have to see how that injury heals, and then I’ll tell you more about him,” Rozier said.

Shakur may be right if he chooses to choose the way his new promoter, Eddie Hearn, had in mind by putting him against Joe Cordina, a fighter who was knocked out of his last fight and looked washed out. If Shakur fights Tank, De Los Santos, Andy Cruz, or Raymond Muratalla, it could end up being him.

Shakur doesn’t talk about those guys. He wants to fight William Zepeda, Floyd Schofield and George Kambosos Jr. because he has measured them. He feels confident that he can beat them, and maybe he can, but it won’t be easy if he’s 50% efficient as a one-handed player.

A fight with Muratalla, Tank, De Los Santos, or Cruz could be his last. Hearn couldn’t finish Shakur quickly he once lost to one or two of those guys. He won’t put him through the same expensive four-fight rebuilding job as he did with Anthony Joshua. It’s very expensive, and those problems will still be there for Shakur once he comes off the four tomato diet.

“That’s one of the keys,” Rozier said when told Shakur would need to stop Tank Davis for 12 rounds. “Now, you’re talking about two of the best lightweights. There are good and bad, but I think when they are together, it will be a good fight.”

Shakur couldn’t stop Tank Davis from him when he was in the health picture, as he did when he turned pro in 2017 after his birth. crying episode at the Olympics. Tank is very strong and can go through his shots like Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez did in the 2016 Olympic finals.

“It’s almost like the days of Sugar Ray Leonard, Duran, Tommy Hearns. These guys are so talented that you don’t know where they want to go. But I think when they get in there, I think everybody’s going to be really excited about what’s going on,” Rozier said.