Shakur Stevenson wasted no time in clapping back at a boxing reporter after he threw criticism surrounding Stevenson’s recent performance. The reporter suggested that his fight against Teofimo Lopez lacked excitement despite a commanding display.
Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani, which took place at Tokyo Dome in Japan on May 2, was widely seen as the biggest showdown in Japanese boxing history. Following the event, the reporter Sean Zittel took to his X and suggested that both Stevenson’s clash with Teofimo Lopez and Inoue vs Nakatani bout failed to deliver the expectations.
However, the reporter acknowledged the fighters’ quality, but the comment labeled the performances as underwhelming. He wrote, “I think both Shakur-Teofimo and Inoue-Nakatani were underwhelming fights. Both are great fighters, but neither fight was a true masterpiece. Crawford-Canelo was better last year, for example.”
The post quickly made waves on X, and Stevenson took notice, firing back. He disagreed with the assessment. Instead of accepting the criticism, he leaned into the very aspect being questioned, his dominance.
“I was too dominant… but to say that wasn’t a true masterpiece… WOW,” Stevenson wrote.
😂😂 I was too dominant my bad but to say that wasn’t a true masterpiece… WOW 😳 https://t.co/qjT2PnigVv
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) May 2, 2026
Through that response, Stevenson highlighted a recurring debate in boxing, whether technical superiority and control should be valued as highly as action-packed fights.
Stevenson locked horns with Lopez at Madison Square Garden on January 31. The 28-year-old delivered a dominating performance to take the WBO world super lightweight belt. He secured a 119-109 unanimous decision victory.
As for Inoue vs. Nakatani. It was a back-and-forth entertaining bout in which the ‘Monster’ defended his IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO super bantamweight belt via unanimous decision victory in front of more than 50000 fans.
Lopez raises officiating concerns but credits Stevenson’s dominant performance
In his recent appearance on ‘Fronch On Fighting’, Lopez suggested that several illegal tactics went unnoticed during the bout against Stevenson. However, he stopped short of using it as an excuse for the result.
“No, I mean, there was a lot of illegal things that he was doing, but the ref wasn’t allowing… I wasn’t really calling on any of it,” Lopez said. “ It’s kind of just the game of boxing when it gets into it.”
“So, you know, things worked the way it did,” he added.
Lopez made sure to recognize Stevenson’s achievement, especially given the circumstances surrounding the fight.
“But kudos to Shakur. He came up to 140, you know, and fought the best guy at that weight, which was myself, and we’ll see what he does next.”
The American southpaw moved up in the weight class to fight Lopez. He overcame the challenge and secured a victory that made him a four-division champion. He previously held titles at featherweight, junior lightweight, and lightweight.
