Shakur Stevenson picked up a boring, unimpressive win against Edwin De Los Santos this past Thursday night. He might have been on point defensively but offensively he was myopic and uncreative.
His reluctance to pull the trigger on his left hand led to nonstop boos from the Las Vegas crowd. In addition to those fans being unsatisfied wasting their hard-earned money to watch him fight, Jamaine Ortiz shook his head in disapproval.
The Dominican contender jumped on a flight to Vegas to both support De Los Santos and watch Stevenson up close and personal. He wasn't expecting the most action-packed fight in the world but Ortiz was hoping that they would at least throw punches.
Stevenson points to a nagging shoulder injury. De Los Santos, on the other hand, blames him for his lack of aggression. Whatever the reason, Stevenson was lethargic and flat-out dull.
At times, Ortiz nodded off as he sat in his ringside seat. After sitting through 12 painfully mundane rounds, Ortiz was left with two feelings. For starters, he can’t understand why Stevenson is this ballyhooed pound-for-pound luminary. Secondly, Ortiz is now hoping that he’ll get his chance at him.
“I’m not, I’m not,” said Ortiz during an interview with BoxingScene.com when asked if he was impressed with Stevenson at all. “Put him in the ring with me. I’ll crack him.”
Cracking Stevenson insinuates that Ortiz would land a punch on him, something Stevenson has mastered avoiding. Still, even with the former Olympic silver medalist perfecting the art of hit and not get hit, Ortiz isn’t unnerved over the possibility of swinging at air all night long. When last seen, the 27-year-old got past his continual weight issues to win a wide decision against Antonio Moran.
A fight with Stevenson, however, figures to be far more complex than that. One minute the 26-year-old is right in front of you, the next, he's angled off to one side of the ring, hitting you with a shot you simply don’t see coming.
Bad performance aside, Stevenson is still one of the best fighters in the world, let alone in the lightweight division. But, from Ortiz’s point of view, all of the praise and adulation that’s been thrown on Stevenson’s shoulders is hyperbolic. In fact, if he was given the chance to prove his worth, Ortiz believes that he’ll beat Stevenson while barely breaking a sweat.
“I don’t think Shakur would be a hard fight for me. I’m a whoop his ass.”