Fans boo Shakur Stevenson and say he is ‘not ready’ for Gervonta Davis after ‘boring’ Edwin De Los Santos win
Shakur Stevenson was widely criticised, despite winning to become a three-weight world champion on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
The young American star outpointed Edwin De Los Santos and won a unanimous decision, but admitted himself that he had a 'bad performance' in the unentertaining 12-rounder.
The fight began with a tentative opening round, though De Los Santos tried to prevent this.
The Dominican initially came out aggressive, but was neutralised by the elite defensive talent of Stevenson, who held him when he tried to launch his early assaults.
This set the tone for the entire fight.
Round two was quiet as De Los Santos struggled to land clean punches.
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There were a few boos from the crowd as this inaction continued into the third.
While Stevenson was impressively elusive, he did not choose to fire back with a great deal of offensive output.
The American was winning the rounds by slightly outlanding De Los Santos, who did not want to overcommit and leave himself open for counter-punches.
As they reached the halfway point, Stevenson seemed to be comfortably in front in the fight, though the boos became louder and louder from the crowd.
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De Los Santos was unable to trouble his opponent at the start of the second half either.
Stevenson appeared perfectly happy to outbox the Dominican at the slow pace, so long as he was indeed winning the rounds.
There were moments in round eight when De Los Santos opened up and attempted quick combinations, but Stevenson neutralised him every time and was never troubled, not even for a moment.
The final rounds played out in similar fashion, with the American winning the fight almost with his jab alone.
He was declared the winner by unanimous decision, but loud boos rained down and fans were not impressed.
Stevenson reacted in his post-fight interview: "I had a bad performance. I wasn't feeling too good… No excuses. If I'm feeling like this, I'm gonna make sure I box and get a victory."
One wrote: "This is a really, really tough watch."
A second said: "Nothing happening at all. One of worst fights I've ever seen."
While a third put: "This fight is not worth watching. I appreciate the boxing IQ both have, but Shakur and De Los Santos are too afraid to fight."
Though another fan added: "Listen this fight is boring, but if there's one thing you can take away from this its that Shakur is the best defensive boxer in the world."
Some also used the contest as evidence that Stevenson would not be able to compete with Gervonta Davis.
"Shakur not ready for Tank," one fan said.
A second wrote: "Gervonta Davis is somewhere smiling watching this Shakur fight."
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Another commented: "Shakur's not on the same level as Tank, all he's got is defence he can’t hit."
While a fourth concluded: "Tank might send Shakur to the shadow realm."