Shakur Stevenson vs. Edwin De Los Santos – Entertainment Guaranteed

Particulars: An (odd night) Thursday fight: November 16, at 10:30 p.m. ET/ 7:30 p.m. PT, ESPN+ from T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada: It’s ‘Sugar’ Shakur Stevenson vs. Edwin “La Granada” De Los Santos, Lightweights.

Background: Shakur Stevenson is rightly regarded as one of the best fighters in boxing. Duh. My concern is the young dude is already 26, without a tremendous amount of anything to show for it, other than acclaim. De Los Santos is quick enough on paper to pose real problems. He’s got the quicks; Stevenson does too, but Stevenson’s fundamentals are far, far, better. De Los Santos from the Dominican Republic has called Shakur, “Shakira Tweeterson.” Pretty clever, LOL. Shakur KOs about 50% of the dudes he fights, De Los Santos, 87%.

Fighters Grades: Speed, Power, Defense, Reach, Age, Stamina, Experience

Shakur Stevenson: B+B A B- B-A B (3.2) B

Edwin De Los Santos: B+B+C+B-B+B B- (2.9) B-

Reality check: A few too many F-bombs aside, Stevenson seems like a truly likable, and is a definitely bright, young guy. His style is interesting in that it’s VERY basic, but just about watertight. Just about perfect. If you look up the term “natural fighter” in the dictionary, you might see his face. It’s not like Stevenson has weird Ukrainian dance angles, does a lot of switch-hitting, throws bolo punches or reminds you of Pea Whitaker. He’s an outstanding combination puncher but is not Meldrick Taylor fast. 

Stevenson seems to have it all except reach and height. He’s quick, he throws fast combinations, has perfect balance, and sees everything going on. They say Jeff Beck (the guitarist) couldn’t play a bad note and Stevenson can’t seem to throw a bad punch.

De Los Santos is genuinely quick, unpredictable and yes, the power is real. I’d be a lot more excited about this fight if the dude hadn’t wilted in the last half of his only loss to William Foster III for which apparently no footage exists. Those who saw it, said that De Los Santos landed powerful shots in the first two rounds and was competitive through six, but then wilted and stayed wilted.

Foster says that while he destroyed De Los Santos self-belief, De Los Santos has a legitimate chance to KO Stevenson. I’d say ‘nah.’ It’s not like Stevenson isn’t aware of the Dominican’s early-round power and will stick his chin in the air. 

Don’t get me wrong when I say Shakur is an outstanding fighter with the potential to land in the HOF – but…I’ve seen little to indicate he is a generational talent. The people who say he’s the Next Coming are broadcasters and dudes like Teddy Atlas. And Shakur himself. Top two of all time? I admire his confidence. He should have that confidence.

My fear is Stevenson could pull a Tank, and fight way too infrequently. Shakur has been quite clear in saying he won’t be rushed to higher weights. He won’t do, he says, anything that doesn’t make sense. Those are exact quotes. Does he mean it or does it mean - the dude’s career will be more sizzle than steak? “I’m going at my pace,” Shakur keeps saying. Things that make you go ‘hmmm.’

No matter what Shakur says – I think he will have to go north, to light welter, to make the serious money. I genuinely believe Stevenson when he says he’ll never make the mistake of following out of love with boxing. Regardless, he wants the big money. If he fights the right fights and wins, he deserves it.

Fight and Prediction: This should be an entertaining fight regardless of what happens! If Shakur totally neutralizes De Los Santos power rounds (1-4) I’ll be really impressed. If De Los Santos manages to clip Shakur, it will be a worthy chin check.

It could be that De Los Santos is world class and his one loss is well, just one loss. But I believe that he’s barely at world level, Shakur is at the top of world level, and he’ll negate De Los Santos’ power in the early rounds, and get rid of him in 9.

Shakur Stevenson TKO Edwin De Los Santos, 9.