Yesterday, Newark native Shakur Stevenson defeated German boxer Artem Harutyunyan to defend his WBC lightweight title in front of his home crowd. Notably, it was Stevenson’s final matchup under Bob Arum‘s Top Rank, the company under which he began his pro-boxing career. The boxer recently disclosed that Top Rank made him an offer of $15 million to continue promoting him, but he decided to part ways instead for free agency. But why is he leaving an established promotion company like Top Rank? For the past few months, the boxer has been taking shots at Top Rank for failing to place him in more important fights for higher paydays. As a result, the split was inevitable.

Interestingly, the Ukrainian boxer and the current IBF lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko is also one of the top lightweight prospects under Top Rank. And, a potential fight between Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis is currently being negotiated for the end of the year after each won their last bout in a spectacular fashion. This is another point of contention for Shakur Stevenson. Shakur has been eyeing a fight with Davis for a while now, but unfortunately, Top Rank couldn’t deliver him the fight he thought he deserved. As a result of this, ‘Sugar’ decided to send Loma and Bob Arum a fairly menacing message following his victory yesterday.

Bob Arum is “saving” Vasyl Lomachenko?

Stevenson blamed his promoter for not giving him the opportunity to fight elite boxers in the lightweight division, which is one of the reasons he is quitting Top Rank. With Stevenson’s WBC belt and Loma’s IBF belt, the boxers could have had a chance to unify their titles if they fought each other. But Arum didn’t want to bring it together, and Stevenson had a message for him on his t-shirt which he wore after his win. The message read, “Bob is saving his son from his a**-whooping.”

Shakur Stevenson has disclosed that he declined a $15 million five-bout contract to rejoin Bob Arum’s Top Rank, which ensured a minimum purse of $3 million for each fight. Believing himself to be worth more, the boxer has decided to become a free agent. His attempt to make fun of Arum and Loma, however, did not sit too well with boxing enthusiasts who believe that the WBC lightweight champ is grossly overestimating his worth and his skills as a boxer.

Shakur Stevenson mocked by boxing fans once again 

‘Sugar’ extended his record to a perfect 22-0 after defeating German Olympic medal winner, Artem Harutyunyan. Despite his 22-fight winning streak, he is still mocked by fans for not fighting popular boxers like Gervonta Davis or Devin Haney yet. One fan remarked on this and wrote, “Why he aint saying tank name.”

Vasyl Lomachenko faced Devin Haney in May 2023. It was a very close fight with both fighters giving their best. In the end, Haney was declared the winner. But many fans believed that Loma was robbed of the win. Keeping this controversial fight in mind, a boxing enthusiast sarcastically noted, “Bob loves Loma so much he robbed him of the Haney win.”

Despite being an incredible fighter, Stevenson does not enjoy the kind of popularity that other fighters in the division enjoy. He had taken the boxing world by storm when he was strutting his way up the ladder. But now, he badly needs a big fight and an equally big win to maintain his prominence in the field. A comment stating the same read, “Man his stocks are dying.”

While a boxing enthusiast hilariously remarked, “😂 bro u barely beat a cab driver.” Someone else also decided to mock Shakur Stevenson and wrote, “Bark bigger than his bite.”

Even though Shakur Stevenson has seen a slump in his popularity in recent times owing to his defensive fighting style, a matchup between him and Lomachenko would have been a money-making event. It had the potential to be one of the biggest fights of the year, and Stevenson might have finally had a chance to prove his mettle in the lightweight division by beating a world-class opponent. Do you think it will take place in the near future? Maybe not, as Loma is already in talks to fight Gervonta Davis. Meanwhile, what do you think about Shakur Stevenson’s recent victory? Share your thoughts about it in the comments below.