Shakur Stevenson’s Corner Conflicts: A “Bratty” Behavior Hurting His Career?

Tim Bradley feels that Shakur Stevenson needs to fix his situation with his inability to listen to corner advice from his coach in between rounds of his fights. Bradley says Shakur is a “brat” and won’t follow instructions.

A Pattern of Defiance

Last Saturday night, Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) argued with his coach during his title defense of his WBC lightweight belt against Artem Harutyunyan at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Shakur’s coach was trying to help him because he wasn’t using the right tactics to get the knockout of Harutyunyan (12-2, 7 KOs), and fans were starting to boo. Stevenson had to go the full twelve-round distance to defeat Harutyunyan, and fans and the media widely criticized his performance.

That was the second consecutive lackluster performance by the 2016 Olympic silver medalist Stevenson, and it came at the worst possible time, right when he was becoming a free agent.

Shakur rejected the $15 million, five-fight offer by Top Rank to re-sign him, believing he could get a better deal from another promotional company. Bradley feels that was a mistake as well for Shakur.

After all, he might not have had any takers after that performance because he’s not a ticket seller outside of the New Jersey area and is not a PPV-level fighter.

Bradley Criticizes Stevenson’s In-Ring Disobedience

“The only thing he didn’t do was stop him because he got into an argument with his corner. That right there, you got to fix,” said boxing expert Tim Bradley to Sean Zittel’s channel, talking about Shakur Stevenson arguing with his coach in between rounds last Saturday night in his fight against Artem Harutyunyan.

The way that Shakur looked, he wouldn’t have gotten the knockout, even if he’d followed his coach’s advice to the letter. He was too weak, flat-footed, and timid to knock out Harutyunyan.

When the German-based fighter Harutyunyan fired back shots, Shakur became defensive, flinching and pulling back. That was all Harutyunyan needed to get Stevenson back off because he wouldn’t stand his ground when met with return fire. Shakur’s timid nature would come out each time.

“When you start arguing with your corner and your grandfather tries to tell you from the outside looking in what you need to do to help you,” said Bradley. “That’s not healthy. You want to be the only one in there [with no corner instruction]. ‘Oh, you want me to come in there and give you some water? I’ll just come in and give you some water. That’s no problem. You don’t want no advice from me? I’ll come in there.’”

A Know-It-All Attitude

Shakur is a know-it-all, so it’s not surprising that he didn’t accept instruction well from his coach. His failure to change his fighting style all these years despite the massive criticism he’s received shows that he’s stubborn and incapable of adapting. That’s the worst kind of fighter.

You can’t coach them because they won’t follow instructions. After all, they believe they know everything. When you’re an employer and have a worker who won’t change when you point out their mistakes, you fire them. Shakur can’t be fired, but he’s hurting his career in the same way an employee who failed to perform his job correctly.

“Shakur has got to fix that. I understand that he’s a master at his craft, but you got to listen to your corner, young man. Stop being a brat. Right now, the kid is looking like a brat; he really is. A lot of these kids. This new generation,” said Bradley.

It’s looking like a lost cause with Shakur. He will never change, and his career will quickly sink once he gets the fight he’s been bleating about against Gervonta Davis.