Teddy Atlas, pod host, suspects that Top Rank didn’t need to re-sign Shakur Stevenson because he wasn’t good for business. They wouldn’t have let him get near free agency in the event that they desired to keep Shakur.
Top Rank’s Hidden Agenda
Atlas believes Top Rank intentionally matched Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) against a weaker opponent, Artem Harutyunyan, last Saturday night, knowing there was likelihood he would fail to impress in victory. They knew he’d win, but he would show his shortcomings.
Shakur could have impressed by destroying Harutyunyan, but that’s not his type of fighting. He did try to attain a knockout, but he couldn’t do it and wound up looking poor as at all times.
Based on that performance, Atlas believes that Shakur could have difficulty finding one other promoter keen on signing him unless they’ll produce Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis for him, which might make a number of money in a one-fight deal. Other than that, Shakur isn’t value paying much to, and his fights fail to herald rankings, sell tickets, or do well on PPV.
Atlas Questions Top Rank’s Motives
“I don’t think they desired to sign him. They let him turn into a free agent,” said Teddy Atlas on his YouTube channel about his belief that Top Rank wasn’t really keen on re-signing Shakur Stevenson.
“In the event that they wanted him, they wouldn’t have let him get that far. They picked an opponent that wasn’t that onerous,” said Atlas on Top Rank selecting a straightforward option, giving him Artem Harutyunyan for Shakur’s final fight of his contract with them.
Shakur likely wanted a large contract for him to re-sign with Top Rank, which wouldn’t have made sense for them unless he became a PPV attraction and if they may match him against Tank Davis and Vasily Lomachenko.
Stevenson would likely never be a PPV draw unless he was fighting those two, and it’s questionable whether Top Rank could have made those fights.
“In the event that they really desired to eliminate him, they may have put him in with a man they thought could beat him, because then they know he’s leaving. So that they try to do him a unclean on the way in which out. They know that, and so they couldn’t afford to pay for that,” said Atlas.
“So that they went the opposite route. ‘We’re going to present him a man he should shine with,’ and I feel they thought he wouldn’t because they know what he’s. He’s a terrific talent, but he’s not exciting.
“You set him in with a man that he can dismantle, but you furthermore mght know he could show his shortcomings, too. It’s an entertainment business. He’s going to point out why we let his contract run out. Top Rank made him a millionaire,” said Atlas about Shakur.
Stevenson likely didn’t get the cash in his contract with Top Rank that we saw Ryan Garcia get from one fight against Tank Davis. Shakur’s failure to turn into a PPV attraction for Top Rank hurt his money-making ability.
“They put him in a fight where he’s going to sink or swim and show whether he’s going to get another people interested, clamoring again and networks clamoring to place him on. I don’t know many folks that would pay $80 for PPV for him,” said Atlas about Shakur.
Stevenson’s performance against Hartuyunyan won’t hurt his marketability if a possible promoter like Matchroom, PBC, or Mayweather Promotions can produce Tank Davis or in the event that they can protect him long enough to show him into one other Floyd clone.
Shakur doesn’t have Mayweather’s talent, but he’s boastful like he was during his profession and has an analogous way of getting fans to observe his fights by them wanting to see him lose.
Stevenson’s Marketability and Future Options
“If that’s the case, why would Top Rank need to re-sign him? It’s a business. It’s about what number of seats he can sell and the PPV he can sell. If that was their goal, they completed that,” said Atlas about Top Rank, putting Shakur in with a fighter he was imagined to dominate but didn’t, lowering his marketability as he was going out the door into free agency.
It’s not Top Rank’s fault that Shakur did not impress against a fighter that he was imagined to dominate. If Shakur is as he tells fans, he must have destroyed Harutyunyan, provided that he’s a fringe contender coming off a loss to Frank Martin.
This was someone that other lightweight fighters would have easily beaten. Even the 20-year-old prospect Abdullah Mason would have likely made easy work of Harutyunyanm, but he’s not rated in the highest 15 at lightweight.
