World champions Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez both turned down fights against undefeated phenom Raymond Muratala in favor of lesser opponents Artem Harutyunyan and Steve Claget, according to trainer Robert Garcia. That's what it means.
Garcia blamed Shakur and Teofimo's reluctance to fight Muratala, Clagett, who probably prefers easy fights, and Harutyunyan, who recently lost.
Overcome dangerous battles and win easily
The fact that WBC lightweight champion Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) and WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo (20-1, 13 KOs) avoided Muratala (21-0, 16 KOs) is a testament to their ability as fighters. What would you say about it? Are they risk-averse warriors who talk about the big game but can't back up their boasts?
In Teofimo's case, he's coming off a humiliating and controversial decision win over Jamaine Ortiz, but he probably needs a confidence boost after being given a win that the boxing world dominated in February of last year. Dew. This was the second of Teofimo's last three matches with controversial wins.
In December 2022, Teofimo received a 10-round split decision against Sander Martin in New York. Thunder dropped Teofimo twice, outboxed him throughout the match, and treated him like a monkey in front of the MSG fans. After the match, Teofimo looked shocked and said, “You got it yet?”
Shakur's fragile ego
To some people's surprise, the boastful Shakur Stevenson is prioritizing his fight with Artem Harutyunyan on July 6th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, instead of competing with the dangerous Muratala. He refused the match.
Harutyunyan, 33, lost his last fight to Frank Martin and should have been automatically disqualified from his title fight against Shakur, but that appears not to be the case. Like Teofimo, Shakur is coming off a controversial and brutal victory over Edwin de los Santos in his last fight in November.
As such, Top Rank may have chosen to give Shakur a partner to give him confidence, which could make him look better and allow him to re-sign. If Top Rank pitted Shakur against Muratala right now, he would fall apart and look bad, and his value to them would go down.
Garcia reveals the truth
“100%. They told us a few weeks ago if we could go up to 140 to go up and challenge Teofimo, if that's available. 135 too guys. I did the same thing so I didn't choose Raymond. [Muratalla] As for my next opponent, I said I would be happy to do it, but it seems Teofimo has chosen to fight someone else [Steve Claggett] “It's too,” said trainer Robert Garcia. boxing voice On June 29th, WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez turned down a fight with prodigy Raymond Muratala in favor of fringe contender Steve Claggett.
“The other belts are vacant so I can't talk about them.” [at lightweight] Of course, we don't know who will win.Roma is likely to win [against George Kambosos Jr. for the vacant IBF 135-lb title]and [Emanuel] Navarrete is likely to win [against Denis Berinchyk for the vacant WBO belt on May 18th]But we'll have to wait and see who wins.
“Shakur, we did the same thing with Shakur, and he chose to fight a guy.” [Artem Harutyunyan] he lost the last battle [against Frank Martin]'' Robert Garcia said.
Muratala (20-0, 16 KOs) recently put on a masterclass, defeating Zolisani Ndongeni by a one-sided 10-round unanimous decision on March 29th.
