At the age of 28, on the eve of his greatest fight, Shakur Stevenson is not qualified as a child, according to appearance or any other measure. It doesn’t mean he is. But for a guy who has a seriously challenged challenge, and even more wounded-he gets an unusual source of consternation in the boxing industry. From here, eight years of his professional career Stevenson came to the conclusion: “What really comes down is the fact that accidental governing boxing sport. And these are not ordinary fans. You have ordinary promoters. You have free fighters. You have free opinions.”

Evidence? Consider Stevenson’s place on the card on Saturday at the Louis Armstrong stadium. The airy champion of WBC (this is the third weight class in which he now had titles), will be adapted to the “momentary” organization, William Zepeda (33-0, 27 KO). Zepeda is exactly such a strenuous, undefeated fighter fans have long slaughtered to make Stevenson fight. But their fight is only a co-mat. The main event is rather to Edgar Berlang – whose basic qualification seems to survive 12 senseless rounds in a unanimous defeat with Canelo Alvarez – and Hamzah Sheeraz, which is approaching 168 pounds after a disappointing draw with the title of medium weight Carlos Adames. Although there is no belt at the stake, Berlanga-Sheeraz is perceived as better garbage speakers and more likely that they provide a knockout. Despite this, no one – free or other – can argue that they are better, more talented fighters than Zepeda and Stevenson.

While Stevenson has barely lost since the transformation of his professionalism in 2017, the presumption against him – that it is not (read: brutal and charismatic) – only increased. Most of them result from his unanimous victory of the decision on Edwin de Los Santos for the WBC free belt almost two years ago. Ok, they cannot be jewels like a canelo-belanga. But it was terrible without adventures. Still, Stevenson has a different shot.

“When I come back and watch this fight,” he tells me, “I see greatness.”

Are you waiting for punchline? There aren’t. I watched Spar in a training camp for this fight, both when he only used his right side. He played it, saying that he was just working on his stab. His team refused any reason. And to my disappointment I bought it – until the fight. Stevenson performed an straightforward work on the allegedly strenuous hand de los Santos and did it with only one hand. A tear in the left middle knuck was turned, not to mention tears in the left shoulder. No excuses, only context.

“I see a warrior who entered 50 percent in relation to a very good warrior,” says Stevenson. “And I still did the work.”

While the night did not get him any fans, he lays a completely reasonable argument. Similarly, he neglects the responsibility of de los Santos in the equation. If de los Santos is so substantial and bad-I don’t say that he is not-how could he barely touch one fighter? He was also a veteran – 14 knockouts in 17 fights – with a prosperous amateur family. Why couldn’t he cut off the ring? Why didn’t he sell out?

Probably for the same reason that Gervont’s “Davis tank” of the Davis-Readala decision about a much smaller opponent, “says much more about retirement than Stevenson, who still persists in a semi-spacious dream, which one day will meet in the ring. They will not. In general, warriors do not mind beating. But they are stupid. Shakur Stevenson can make you look stupid.

– But you know what’s crazy? he asked, referring to the fight de los Santos. “The fans said it. Sometimes I moved” – nothing, it’s called boxing – “But not the whole fight. Edwin de los Santos had many opportunities to break me or hit the shots he was looking for. It just didn’t happen.”

Because de los Santos would not be – or could not – keep the end of the opportunity. I criticized Stevenson for throwing one blow at once, too cautious and focused on defense at the expense of the attack. But writing it as A is an ordinary misleading – just like the view that the size of the ring is a critical variable in these duels.

“I don’t care how substantial or compact the ring is,” says Zepeda through his trainer-Translator, Jay “Panda” Najar. “A good pressure fighter will find a way to cut the ring, and a good boxer will find a way to move and escape. It’s no secret that I throw a lot of blows and attack the body. I can’t change it. But I have to make a difference. IQ Shakur is simply amazing, but I am the one who has to do it. He is amazing Fiterm, but I am the one who must take him in the stock exchange.

The “B” page is scarce, which refers to each other in the first person. But it aims to accept the risk and responsibility that de los Santos (among others) no. Zepeda’s mind is about Zepeda. He understands that he must put wise pressure, that he cannot afford to frustrate or discourage, which he claims that he learned in his subsequent wins on Southpaw Tevin Farmer.

What’s more, Zepeda imagines the hero in his own epic. “It will be like a stony film,” he insists. “It will be a very complex, complex fight. But I can’t leave it to the judges. Not against Shakur in Modern York.”

Not to mention that Stevenson comes from Newark, Modern Jersey – or that he has his own great ambitions. Despite this, despite the whole conversation from Zepeda about Zepeda, I can’t resist thinking: where is his sensitive opponent?

“Pressure for him,” says Zepeda. “In the fight there will be a moment when he must stand there and fight me. We want to employ it.”

Explain.

“All people who say:” We want to see Shakur’s fight. We don’t want him to run away. ” He enters the internet and answers everyone, “says Zepeda.” This is the only weakness I see. “

He means cases.