Carrington Slams Stevenson's Lackluster Performance, Calls for Taking More Risks

Bruce Carrington, the undefeated featherweight champion, grilled Shakur Stevenson today in an interview about his failure to take an opportunity to entertain the fans against an opponent, Artem Harutyunyan, who did not back him up on July 6.

Harutyunyan was not in danger, yet Shakur treated him as a professional artist to be wary of.

That didn't play well with Shakur's hometown fans at the Prudential Center in Newark. They yelled at him, and many started to go to the exits in the eighth round. They had paid to see Shakur play and chose to leave early.

Interestingly, Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) didn't accept Carrington's (12-0, 8 KOs) valid criticism, even though it was similar to what Terence Crawford did.

Shakur didn't mind hearing the truth from three-time world champion Crawford, but he shrugged it off when Carrington, who has yet to make it big in the pro game but is on his way to success.

“As a fighter and as a spectator, I would have liked to see him do more. He could have done more,” said Bruce Carrington on Sean Zittel's YouTube channel, talking about how Shakur Stevenson should have done more to entertain in his July 6 fight with Artem Harutyunyan.

I don't think Shakur can change the way he fights without breaking him as a fighter, leading to him being knocked out and losing things that will end his career.

He cannot stand firm and fight unless it is someone who drinks and is weak, like Harutyunyan and Shuichiro Yoshino. At 27, Shakur is a finished product, and that won't change. He will always fight the way he is doing now.

If anything, it's going to be worse with his defensive tactics when he starts competing against talented fighters like Gervonta Davis or Vasily Lomachenko.

“I don't think his opponent was giving him that much of an obstacle, pushing back,” Carrington said of Shakur. “I expected a lot from Shakur in terms of his offense. I saw a lot from him. That's why people are angry with him the way he did.”

Shakur's fight against Edwin De Los Santos last November may have taken a toll on his mind, scaring him a lot because he took some big shots in that fight. He didn't meet many, but it was enough to make him more defensive than before, which will always be there now.

Any promoter who signs Shakur needs to realize that this is as good as it gets for him, and he's not going to develop into a crowd-pleasing fighter. It will be the same with him. If Eddie Hearn signs Shakur to a long contract, he might be kicking himself later when a major disappointment occurs.

If hand speed and agility start to deteriorate, Shakur, who is in his 30s, will likely start losing knockouts and find himself on the skids, abandoned by his promoters.

“I expected a lot from him, and everybody expected more from him,” Carrington continued about Shakur. “I feel like right now if you're fighting a certain level of guys in your country, why don't you come out to the fans? Why not take chances? That's what I would do.”

Many people had high expectations for Shakur against Harutyunyan, as it was his last fight with Top Rank. He was fighting in front of his hometown fans, and he was facing a weak puncher coming off a defeat to Frank Martin.

Shakur needed to look good because his performance was an audition for the next promotion company to sign him, and he failed miserably. If Shakur looked like gold, he'd probably be signed by a promoter by now.

“You saw what I can get out of when I take those risks. “He took that criticism well from Terence Crawford and Andre Ward, and hopefully he can take that and go on and show better next time,” Carrington said of Crawford and Ward both criticizing Shakur after his win over Harutyunyan.

Carrington is a different type of fighter than Shakur. She takes risks, is energetic, and always tries to please the fans. There's no way Carrington wouldn't have gone all out looking for a knockout if he was in Shakur's shoes, his contract expiring with a promotion company, facing a weak puncher, fighting in front of his home fans.

It just goes to show that Shakur isn't cut out for the pro game. He is a fighter who was in his prime in the early stages, using punches but not sitting down and avoiding punches.