“Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it.”
The originator of that famous line, departed heavyweight legend “Big” George Foreman, must have looked at Shakur Stevenson like he was boxing’s Miles Davis.
Stevenson returns to the ring Saturday for one of his toughest tests to date when he defends his WBC lightweight championship against William Zepeda in New York on DAZN. His opponent, Zepeda, is more like Art Blakey. The fact that he can spam an opponent with punches is comparable to the structured pressure of more upbeat musicians — particularly high-octane drummers, like Blakey, who set tempo and keep audiences engaged.
But Stevenson, who is more about precision and timing, of distance and space, is akin to the muted trumpet tones of Davis.
There is a brilliance to Stevenson’s work that even I’m guilty of misunderstanding, at times. Boxing, at its highest level, has subtle nuances that casual observers overlook and experts can oftentimes find dull. A so-called boring fighter may actually be in complete control of a 12-round bout due to their defense, footwork and ringcraft.
Stevenson, in an era where it has become fashionable to lament “Tom and Jerry” boxing, as Turki Alalshikh often puts it, is arguably the most under-appreciated of all elite fighters.
But if you ask Stevenson about Alalshikh’s comments, and the wider boxing public who may deplore his style at times, his answer is simple — he isn’t changing the way he fights for you, for me, or for anyone. “I don’t care about that s***,” he told Uncrowned.
“I don’t worry about what they say, Tom and Jerry. They just got casual opinions. Promoters, guys with money … you can have money, but you can still have a casual opinion.
“And I like what [Terence] ‘Bud’ Crawford said right after that, he said. ‘I’m gonna fight my fight.’ So, at the end of the day, that’s how I feel — the same way, and I’m getting the job done regardless.
“Nobody’s going to tell me I gotta go stand right in front of somebody and let them hit me. Because, at the end of the day, when I go to the hospital, who’s going to be there? Nobody, right? Except my family and the people that actually [care for me], not people sitting around on the internet and begging to stand there and go toe-to-toe. I’m coming in there to fight my fight, and at times I will be toe-to-toe with him [when I want to be].”
Such criticisms of “Tom and Jerry” boxers may target American fighters. Uncrowned has written before how Richardson Hitchins appeared to have the antidote with his latest performance because he stayed true to a hit-and-don’t-get-hit strategy while also pursuing the knockout of George Kambosos in a statement win just last month.
“Hitchins owes me a thank you!” Stevenson said of the Uncrowned story. “I’d been sending him sparring clips through his whole camp, and he kind of looked like me out there! I told him that. That’s my boy.”
Considering the embarrassment of riches in American boxing right now, the scene in the States is arguably under-appreciated — just perhaps not as much as Stevenson is.
Aside from Hitchins, there’s of course Crawford, one of the elite pound-for-pound fighters of today’s era, but there’s also the surging two-weight force David Benavidez Jr., pound-for-pound star Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, and champions Brian Norman Jr. and Jaron “Boots” Ennis. The list goes on.
As he overlooks the landscape at what his compatriots are up against, Stevenson can’t help but back another of his boys, Crawford, when the Omaha fighter jumps two weight classes to challenge Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a Sept. 13 superfight at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. “’Canelo’ is a great fighter,” said Stevenson, “but I feel like, with ‘Bud,’ ‘Canelo’ is in with somebody who is very high level. I’ve seen ‘Canelo’ in there with Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol, but it’ll be much different with ‘Bud.’”
Stevenson is also full of praise for other Americans, like Rodriguez, who fights Phumelela Cafu on July 19, and Benavidez, who takes on Anthony Yarde on Nov. 22.
He called “Bam” a “hell of a fighter,” adding: “I love the way he fights. He’s different, and that’s not a style that everybody has with the angles that he takes. I’ve seen him when he was like 15 or 16 years old and I knew he’d be world class. You can tell he’s a student of the sport, and I give respect to a fighter like that.”
Stevenson, likewise, respects Benavidez for being “a killer.” He said: “I think Benavidez and Bivol are in a similar position to me and ‘Tank’ [Gervonta Davis]. I feel that’s one of the best fights out there that can be made. It’s just not talked about enough.”
Together with the present-day fighters, there is also a new wave of teenage talent coming through in America, including Stevenson’s nephew Zaquin Moses, who has a notable amateur-level victory over Mayweather’s protege Curmel Moton.
“I think Zaquin is already good!” Stevenson beamed. “And then he’s got me to back him. With me backing, watching everything, watching over him to become a world champion … the sky’s the limit. It’s going to be very hard to beat him. He’s a dangerous little fighter and it’s good to see him getting recognition.
“I’m going to tell you something crazy, and this is the first time I’ve ever said it. When he fought and beat Curmel, I had sparred Curmel for two rounds, and after sparring him, I’d already seen the game-plan Zaquin needed to do to win the fight to beat him. And everything happened the right way it was supposed to happen.”
A rematch between Moses and Moton, albeit in the pro game, appears a natural match to make in the future. “That’s going to be one of the biggest fights when it happens,” Stevenson said, “and I think Zaquin will come out victorious.”
Stevenson is confident he’ll, too, be victorious this weekend when he finally collides with Zepeda.
It’s a fight that Golden Boy Promotions has been eager to make for years, as partners Oscar de la Hoya and Bernard Hopkins told Uncrowned in 2024 that they regard Stevenson to be tailor-made for their Mexican hotshot.
“Mine is kind of the perfect style for him,” Stevenson conceded. “But he could be tailor-made for me, too. I’ve never really seen Zepeda’s style before. And I didn’t even know that [what he does] was possible. But that’s what gives me a jump [in motivation]. On July 12, there isn’t s*** he’s going to do that I won’t see and be able to stop coming. He’s a hell of a fighter, but he isn’t coming out of there victorious.”
Uncrowned, earlier this year, listed Zepeda as one of a number of Mexican fighters who, combined, could usher in their nation’s post-“Canelo” era.
And so what would it say about American boxing, and Stevenson in particular, if he were to defeat Zepeda this weekend? “Honestly, it says everything about who I am,” Stevenson said. “And that I should be the representation of American boxing.
“I came up from 126 pounds, and now [I’m] fighting at 135 and I’m still dominating. I’m about to beat the boogeyman from the beginning, he’s stopping everybody, the guy nobody wants to fight.
“I’m going to go in there and beat him up, and get my credit,” he finished.