Shakur Stevenson got the win tonight over Jeremiah Nakathila, but those talking about the fight have been pretty harshly critical of the bout as entertainment.
Stevenson admitted post-fight on ESPN+ that he wasn’t happy with his own performance, and took to Twitter quickly after that to send an apology to fans:
I apologize to all my fans I didn’t feel good tonight but I did what I had to do to win.. Thank you for all da support I promise better for further fights to come
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) June 13, 2021
Time to lock back in
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) June 13, 2021
As I said in the post-fight recap, I do think more will be made of how dull this was than it’s really worth, but media — I’m including us — gotta talk about something. I’m choosing the arrogant stance where I’m soOoOOOOOOOoooOoo much smarter than everyone. (Please don’t look up some of my terrible fight predictions.)
Realistically, if Stevenson goes out and gets a fight with Oscar Valdez or Jamel Herring, wins clean and clear, and picks up a belt at 130, this will mostly be forgotten. But it’s kind of nice to see him acknowledge that this was not the best showing, even though he did what he had to do, won every round, etc. It was boring as hell to watch, but it’s probably not worth thinking about
There frankly wasn’t much chatter otherwise, but there were a few Tweets out there from pros, and people like these posts for whatever reason, so here you go:
Just watched Nate Diaz, which makes watching Shakur not take a freaking risk INFURIATING. #Boxing is the entertainment business and the kid is too talented not to try to entertain. Nakathila is basic and this should be over! But to quote Tyson, “you need to bring ass to get ass”.
— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) June 13, 2021
Everybody mad at @ShakurStevenson it takes two to tango. Also no body is taking punches for him …. SN this ref is erky AF
— Franchón Crews-Dezurn (@TheHHDiva) June 13, 2021
Shakur needs a Valdez to really show what he has. A young, aggressive fighter that will take a punch to land some of their own. Pure boxers are tougher than y’all think but if you wanna see it, present a tougher challenge. #StevensonNakathila
— Mykal(Michael) Fox (@ProfessorMyke) June 13, 2021