Shakur Stevenson has nailed his colours to the mast by making an early prediction for a fight between two friends of his and opened up about the time he sparred ‘Bud’ Crawford.
The Newark native is the current WBO and WBC champion at super-featherweight.
Stevenson has a perfect record of 18-0 and is set to return to the ring on September 23 in his home city when he takes on former Olympic champion Robson Conceição at the Prudential Center.
The 25-year-old was asked about the potential fight between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford. Though it has yet to be confirmed, it is widely understood that the two world champions will meet in an undisputed welterweight showdown later this year.
Both Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), the IBF, WBC and WBA Super champion at the weight, and WBO king Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) are pals of Stevenson and it was difficult for him to settle on a victor, to begin with,
Talking on the Last Stand podcast with Brian Custer, Stevenson said:
“I think it’s dog versus dog.
“I feel like both of those dudes are mentally strong, they’ve both got killer instincts and they are both willing to go to war, so we might see a war or we might see or we can see a boxing match because they’ve both got boxing skills
“I don’t know, I’m just excited to see the fight. ‘Bud’ is like my brother and I love him and Errol has been like a big brother to me too, over the years, so I’ve got much respect for both.”
Crawford was last seen between the ropes in November 2021 when he stopped Shawn Porter, the former IBF welterweight champion, to retain his WBO crown, while Spence stopped Yordenis Ugas inside 10 rounds at the AT&T Stadium in Arrlington, Texas back in April.
Stevenson added:
“I can’t wait to see the fight and I think it’s going to be amazing. Bud’ is my brother and I’m always going to stick with my brother, regardless, but Errol [has] been really good to me too.
“I f**k with Errol to the core, but at the end of the day, ‘Bud’ is somebody who stands on [for me] every day so I’ve got to stand by my brother.”
The Olympic silver medalist went on to talk about the time he sparred against Crawford:
“This is one of the one times that I had to actually learn that I’m not the best. I get in the ring, man this dude got in there beating me up.
“We only sparred I think two or three rounds, it was four minute rounds – man this dude beat me up so bad, I swear to god that was the worst a** whooping I ever had. As a fighter I couldn’t believe it – I went home that day like I just could not believe what happened.”