SHAKUR STEVENSON is not a free agent.
Final night time the 27-year-old was introduced as a Matchroom fighter after placing pen to paper on a promotional deal two months after parting methods with Prime Rank.
Stevenson, the present WBC World Light-weight champion, defends his title on October 12 in opposition to Joe Cordina who joined Matchroom in February 2017. Their bout acts because the chief help to the undisputed light-heavyweight title struggle between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in Riyadh.
Matchroom Sport Chairman Eddie Hearn has been a long-time admirer of Stevenson and introduced the Newark southpaw to his Philadelphia present on July 13 headlined by Jaron Ennis. Stevenson was additionally in attendance on the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles to look at his good friend Terence Crawford defeat Israil Madrimov. The primary Riyadh Season occasion gave Hearn and Turki Alalshikh extra time to impress Stevenson and get him on board.
“I’m prepared to start out this subsequent chapter of my profession and it begins on October 12 with Joe Cordina on the stacked Riyadh Season card in Saudi Arabia,” mentioned Stevenson.
“I’ve made it clear that I need the largest names and the largest fights within the sport. Deliver on William Zepeda on the high of 2025 and I’m prepared for anybody who’s courageous sufficient to step within the ring with me. There have been few prepared to tackle that problem lately.
“With Matchroom and Riyadh Season, I’m teaming up with a promotional pressure that matches my world class expertise. We will probably be unstoppable out and in of the ring, and I’ll proceed to indicate my dominance for a few years to come back within the sport of boxing.”
Whereas this can be a main coup for Hearn there will probably be stress on Stevenson to look good and impress his new promoter and Alalshikh. The three-weight world champion is among the most gifted fighters within the sport however his performances of late haven’t been simple on the attention. Ought to he win in opposition to Cordina then there will probably be calls for from followers that Stevenson steps up one other stage and face considered one of Gervonta Davis, Vasyl Lomachenko or William Zepeda.
“I’m delighted to welcome what I imagine is a pound-for-pound nice to the Matchroom crew,” mentioned Hearn.
“Shakur Stevenson is 27 and already a three-division World champion and is likely to be unbeatable within the sport of boxing.
“This younger man must be a worldwide famous person, and I imagine with our machine behind him, he’ll land all the large fights and obtain all of the credit score that he deserves.
“The journey begins on October 12 in Riyadh on an enormous card, and we can not look ahead to the longer term collectively.”