Shakur Stevenson is playing a part in a thrilling time for the sport of boxing, with plenty of intriguing match-ups being discussed.
Unfortunately for fans, many end at that stage and the fighters never make it through the ropes.
Speaking to Bootleg Kev, Stevenson said that, of all the potential bouts out there, he would like to see his friend and training partner, Terence Crawford, make an unprecedented weight jump to challenge Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez.
“A fight that isn’t in my weight class but, as a fan, I would love to see – Canelo versus Terence. I would like to see that fight just because a lot of people think that Bud is not big enough. I just watched Canelo with Charlo – I seen a lot of things Bud could capitalise on.”
Stevenson delved deeper into why he believes ‘Bud’ has a shot at being just the third man to beat Canelo in a 64-fight career.
“I don’t know how conditioned he is. It’s weird – it’s like he started off the first four rounds bombs away, bit strong punches. Then the punches kind of go down a little bit and he starts fighting in spurts … A smart fighter, if you catch and shoot him, you catch him in between punches. He’s a helluva fighter, I’m just saying somebody like Bud can capitalise on a lot of the things that I see.”
Despite the intrigue, as well as the frequent calls from Crawford to make it happen, both men haver other plans. Crawford will rematch Errol Spence Jr next, and Canelo may be forced to face his WBC mandatory challenger in the first half of 2024.
As for Stevenson, he fights this month against Edwin De Los Santos to become a three-weight world champion.