Shakur Stevenson spent some time in-depth chatting with his mentor Andre Ward to discuss a number of topics including being a free agent, his latest fight and fan criticism, Gervonta Davis and more. Watch the full video interview in the link at the top, plus some excerpts from what Stevenson had to say below.

Stevenson on what he looks for when signing his next endorsement deal

“I just want to be in the biggest and best fights… the same fight I just had, with Artem. If it was a name that people knew and it was like a gigantic name and I had the exact same fight, they would do it. say it’s a masterpiece. They’d say it’s the greatest thing they’ve ever seen defensively and in the pocket.

“I just want to perform in front of the names, I want to be in front of the guys that they think are so good so that I can show what level I am at. So whatever situation puts me in front of my biggest and best fights, I’m OK with that.”

On whether his beef with Gervonta Davis is real or just “boxing beef”

“It’s bigger than boxing, I guess you could say, because I like the story and everything that happened… I know [that fight] will happen. I mean, I’m the best, he’s the best. You have two best players, how can you not fight? The only way you couldn’t fight is if one of them isn’t like that and someone leaves to lose, or someone takes the L. But I think for both of us, we’re fighters who are really good fighters and that’s it level.”

About what he expects from his boxing legacy

“I think I’ll go down in history as probably the best defensive player to ever do it. I want to be one of the best, I want to be on that GOAT mountain you’re sitting on, Pernell Whitaker, Floyd Mayweather, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali… I’m just trying to climb it and get there.

“When all is said and done, they will respect me.”

In this video interview, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn talks about his position between Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, who is basically financing the biggest fights in boxing lately, and Mexican star Canelo Alvarez, who is not interested in continuing negotiations with Alalshikh at the moment.

While there is clearly some tension between the parties, Hearn doesn’t think it’s something that can’t be overcome in the end, and tries to explain the difference in the two people’s thinking.

About the beef between Canelo and Turki Alashikh

“It’s hard because obviously I really like both. I think, first of all, His Excellency has one thing in mind: to fight the biggest fights that can be fought in boxing. I think he probably shares the frustration of boxing fans over the last few years and I think what he brings to the sport is incredibly refreshing in that he’s not interested in delicate fights.

“He just wants to fight the biggest fights that can be fought. So, according to His Excellency, the fights he wants to see are Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez vs. David Benavidez.

“He contacted me, His Excellency, on the evening of the first press conference in Novel York and said, ‘I want to do the Canelo vs. Crawford fight, go and talk to Saul, let’s do the fight.’ I said, “Okay,” and I contacted Saul and said, “His Excellency wants to fight this fight. I think you should go see him in Los Angeles, he’s there,” and Saul just said, “Listen, I’m focused on this fight, I’m not talking about another fight until this fight is over.

“And I think His Excellency probably can’t understand… I think it’s a frustration of, ‘no, let’s have a fight, come on.’ You have to understand the way it works, and the way they do business is amazing. It’s “this is what we want to do, this is huge, let’s do it.” And for one reason or another, Canelo didn’t want to have those conversations, and then there was the frustration of “why not, we’re here, we can make a deal right now”… you come to the hotel now and we’ll make a deal tonight.

“It’s an amazing way to operate and extremely refreshing for boxing, but Canelo didn’t want to do the deal this way. He wanted to wait until the Berlanga fight, which, frustratingly for His Excellency, wipes out the February fight with Crawford because he wants to end the fight now.”

Chris Eubank Jr still claims his goal is to face Canelo Alvarez, who is currently scheduled to face Edgar Belanga on September 14. Eubank Jr tells Sky Sports that he believes he and Canelo could fight in May 2025, while he is seemingly still haggling with Canelo’s team over his share of the revenue.

However, Eubank Jr sees that Canelo is not very deep, so he believes he will still be in a good negotiating position.

“A lot of people are not ecstatic with the fight he chose. Canelo can only fight a certain group of fighters right now, so I’m not worried that this fight in September will end in failure. Because who else can he fight? There are only a few guys.

Eubank Jr is also considering a potential confrontation with Terence Crawford, with whom he shares a coach – Brian McIntyre. Even though Eubank Jr states that it’s not a good thought that McIntyre would obviously go with Crawford in such a situation, and gives inside information, he is still confident that he will win because he doesn’t think Crawford has enough strength to beat him.

“We have a trainer who trains both of us and if a fight happens, he will fight a guy he came up with, so he will share the information. It’s not worth thinking about. But I’m very confident. I think it’s too diminutive.”

While Eubank Jr tells the public about these huge plans and ideas, it is worth noting that he has often mentioned many huge names that he would like to fight, but for one reason or another, these fights never materialized.