Boxing analyst Tim Bradley believes Shakur Stevenson made a mistake by not accepting a guaranteed offer of $15 million, five fights, and $3 million to re-sign with Top Rank instead of hitting the free market.
I hope for a profitable deal with Turki Alalshikh
It’s possible that Shakur turned down $15 million because he hopes that Turki Alalshikh will give him a lot of money to fight on his cards and won’t mind if he fights in a boring way.
If that happens, it would be good for Shakur because he wouldn’t have to worry about pleasing the fans and fight the only way he knows how with his scoring style that he hasn’t been able to change since turning pro in 2017.
Style doesn’t belong in the professional ranks, where fighters are expected to sit back and enjoy selling tickets and PPVs.
Bradley sees that as a good deal and says WBC lightweight champion Shakur could have made more than his $3 million in fights against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Vasily Lomachenko.
Shakur may be of the opinion that if he signs with the PBC, they will give him a Tank Davis fight, a gold mine with a huge payday, possibly much higher than the $15M deal that Top Rank was offering.
Unrealistic Expectations from PBC and Matchroom
Stevenson may not get the same offer from PBC or Matchroom Boxing because they should know that he probably won’t be a PPV attraction or ticket seller yet.
If Shakur gets the fight he wants from Tank Davis, he will be knocked out, run around the ring for 12 rounds like he did against Edwin De Los Santos, and lose by a wide decision. There won’t be a decision for Shakur vs. Tank if he fights the same way he did with De Los Santos.
If Shakur believes PBC can bring him Tank, it would make sense for him to sign with them. Of course, the PBC can’t force Tank Davis to fight Shakur if they feel he doesn’t want to fight him and face the run from him for twelve rounds.
Shakur will fight more defensively against Tank than he did last Saturday night against weak puncher Artem Harutyunyan in Newark, New Jersey.
The Highest Quality Offer
“He should have taken that $15 million [offer from Top Rank] agreement? Definitely. He should have taken that $15 million deal. There’s no doubt about that,” said Tim Bradley on Probox TV about the $15M Top Rank offered Shakur Stevenson to re-sign with them for a five-fight, $3 million fight deal, which he turned down.
Shakur may return to Top Rank if he is not offered a better or equal deal from other promoters or Turki. That would be a bad look on Shakur’s part, but it’s certainly possible. If you are PBC or Matchroom, do you really want to sign Shakur after his recent appearance? I wouldn’t. Many exciting fighters may not be good in defense, but they are exciting for the fans.
“You have to think about this. It’s a $3 million base. It doesn’t matter who you are facing. “If he’s against Tank Davis, it’s true that he’s going to make a lot of money,” Bradley said. “If he faces Lomachenko, obviously, he will make more money. That’s the starting price right there.”
Shakur can forget about Lomachenko because he probably won’t agree to fight him unless he pays a lot of money. If he loses to Gervonta Davis in November, he will be useless to Shakur.
“People were coming out of that stadium. If he were to get that streak, people would be waiting there to see it happen. He missed that opportunity, the reason why he missed that opportunity is because he was arguing with his grandfather in the corner,” said Bradley about Shakur who failed to listen to his grandfather who wanted him to fight hard.
Stevenson wouldn’t have gotten the knockout of Artem Harutyunyan last weekend, and it wouldn’t have mattered if he had fought with more aggression. It wasn’t going to happen.
“His grandfather used to tell him, ‘I need you to step on the gas, and I need to step on it now.’ He didn’t listen. The window was there, he was not blocked,” said Bradley.
Market Value
“As far as his marketing, it’s going to be tough for him,” Bradley said of Shakur. “I don’t know where he is going to go. I don’t know if he will go with Terence Crawford. Turki Alalshikh, will you invest in Shakur Stevenson?
If Turki signs Shakur, who will match him? Will he fight regularly or put together a crossover match where he finds a famous MMA fighter and has him fight Shakur in a circus level fight?
“He wants more money. I get it. I’m talking about marketing. If you don’t put people in the seats, it is difficult for you to ask for as much money as this young man is asking for. “$3 million is a lot of money,” Bradley said.
The way Shakur has performed, he’s not worth a $15 million contract and isn’t worth more than exciting young players like Abdullah Mason.
“You don’t see many guys making three million dollars,” Bradley said.
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