Shakur Stevenson is known for, amongst a host of other attributes, having some of the quickest hands in the lightweight division.
However, the two-division champion revealed that he recently sparred someone with even faster hands than himself, despite campaigning a couple of weight classes higher.
In a interview with The Last Stand, Stevenson detailed his experience sparring welterweight prodigy Jason ‘Boots’ Ennis, whom he described as a “killer.”
“I think that Boots is a bad dude. He can do it all, he can box, he can bang and he can punch. One thing people don’t understand, that dude is fast.”
“I sparred him, and he came out and he was just hitting me with his jab. I’m a smaller guy so I’m fast, but his hand speed… it felt like this dude was faster than me.”
“People sleep on him, but he’s a killer. He always stays in shape, he’s always in the gym and he’s someone who motivates me too. Whenever I’m on my phone and see Boots in the gym straight after a fight, I know I’ve got to get straight back in the gym.”
“I think he’s a bad dude, a lot of people are going to have trouble with him and I can’t wait to see him get some big fights.”
Ennis returns to the ring against Roiman Villa this weekend in Atlantic City, with his IBF Interim world title on the line.
The 26 year old is regarded by many as the future king of 147lbs, and will have more than one eye on the mammoth four belt unification between Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford on July 29th.