Former Shakur Stevenson’s opponent, Oscar Valdez, praised his aggressive effort to go for a knockout of Artem Harutyunyan final Saturday evening on the Prudential Heart in Newark, New Jersey.
The previous two-division world champion Valdez says he thought WBC light-weight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) would rating a stoppage of Harutyunyan (13-2, 7 KOs) within the sixth spherical when he was touchdown nicely, however he couldn’t do it.
Stevenson was strolling ahead, throwing arm punches, not bending his knees, and failing to generate important energy. That made it straightforward for Harutyunyan to take the punches nicely and transfer out of vary.
When Shakur got here at him, Harutyunyan may struggle him off with mixtures, which put the New Jersey native into the defensive mode. No matter momentum that Shakur had could be misplaced from the temporary salvos that Harutyunyan was throwing.
Stevenson’s nook argued with him in between rounds within the second half, wanting him to place extra strain on, however couldn’t or wouldn’t do it. They may as nicely have been asking a Tiger to vary its stripes.
Shakur’s fashion was too ingrained to relentlessly assault how he would have wanted to KO the 33-year-old Harutyunyan, who was tailored for him.
Valdez’s Respect for Shakur’s Knockout Try
“You bought to respect Shakur for making an attempt to get the knockout. Who would have thought that the man that was operating was Harutyunyan? They thought Shakur was going to run,” stated Oscar Valdez to Combat Hub TV, giving help to his former conquer Shakur Stevenson from his win final Saturday evening towards Artem Harutyunyan.
Shakur tried, however the strategy that he used was by no means going to work towards an skilled Olympian like Harutyunyan, who has confronted actual knockout punchers within the amateurs and handled them with out getting KO’d.
It was straightforward for Harutyunyan to deal with Shakur’s restricted offensive abilities. That’s not Shakur’s sturdy level in his sport. He’s strictly a defensive fighter who nonetheless makes use of the beginner point-scoring fashion.
“I seen Shakur’s eyes the place there was a time the place he checked out Christina Poncher and myself and stated, ‘I’m going to knock him out’ within the sixth spherical. I really thought he was going to get it, however there are specific fighters you’re not going received knock out,” stated Valdez.
When Shakur discovered some success in spherical six, Harutyunyan received on his bike and rapidly neutralized his offense. It was too straightforward. Shakur’s capacity to chop off the ring proved to be restricted, and that’s the bizarre half as a result of he’s such an excellent mover when attacked.
Sadly, his capacity to go ahead to assault is at a rudimentary degree, and that’s one of many the explanation why he’ll by no means be an entire fighter.
“Harutyunyan is a troublesome fighter. Don’t underestimate the man. Shakur would possibly make him look straightforward, however he’s not a straightforward opponent,” stated Valdez. “Types make fights, and it simply wasn’t an excellent dancing companion for Shakur. However then once more, plenty of occasions, Shakur doesn’t get that good dancing companion. ”
Shakur didn’t make it look straightforward towards Harutyunyan. That was a troublesome struggle the place Shakur appeared to lose 4 rounds. He didn’t dominate the way in which some fighters would have at light-weight.
That is the fourth or fifth fighter that Shakur has fought throughout his profession that wasn’t a “good dancing companion,” it looks like the one time somebody is an effective one is once they’re restricted guys with no energy, pace, or boxing capacity.
“Possibly I used to be an excellent dancing companion as a result of I attacked him the entire time, and he counter-punched me the entire evening and gained a transparent struggle. That’s why it made it considerably entertaining,” stated Valdez.
Shakur had the scale benefit over Valdez, and he was preventing him after he’d already began displaying indicators of slippage. Valdez was coming off a controversial twelve-round unanimous determination win over Robson Conceicao in his earlier struggle on September 10, 2021, and plenty of boxing followers felt that he misplaced that struggle.
“That’s why you bought to provide plenty of respect to Shakur; he tried his finest to provide the followers and his individuals a knockout. He tried, however he didn’t get it. That’s boxing. He received the victory,” stated Valdez.
