After the recent official news of Shakur Stevenson signing with Matchroom, its promoter Eddie Hearn discusses his plans for Stevenson while also touching on his ideas for Jaron Ennis, and others. Check out some excerpts of what Hearn had to say below with the full video interview at the top.
On signing Shakur Stevenson
“I feel like I’ve promoted Shakur Stevenson for years, really, because I’ve talked about him for years…I know my boxing and I know how good this kid is. He may be unbeatable, I know he’s a pound-for-pound star, there’s something about Shakur Stevenson’s mentality that gives me confidence that he beats everybody.
“I think he’s been massively undersold. I think he should be not just an American superstar but a global superstar. I think he’s edgy, I think he’s ballsy, I think he’s unbelievably talented and I’m going to do everything I can to give him the platform and the promotional push that his ability deserves.
“For Shakur the plan is this two-fight plan of Joe Cordina, and if he’s triumphant, into the Zepeda fight. And we’ll show him during that period our value. We’ll work together closely, Gervonta Davis, everybody. I hope this is two fights that leads to the rest of Shakur Stevenson’s career with Matchroom.”
On Stevenson’s fight with Cordina not getting the greatest reception from fans
“I think this is a really, really good fight…Stylistically this is a great matchup for Joe Cordina and actually a great matchup for boxing. Two really skillful fighters. I think it’s going to be a brilliant fight and Shakur’s a big favorite going into the fight but Joe, coming off the back of the Cacace loss, having the extra weight at lightweight as well, it’s a proper fight.
“Not being funny, the last geezer that Shakur Stevenson boxed, Joe would beat him easy, and probably the ones before that. So Joe’s a serious fighter…
“For me, what we do is we go Joe Cordina, William Zepeda, Gervonta Davis. For me, once we’ve done our work over that six month period, Gervonta Davis vs Shakur Stevenson will be the biggest fight in boxing. But we make our own moves. We’re not chasing Tank, we’re chasing greatness, but that comes with Tank because he’s an unbelievable fighter.”
On his plans for Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
“So we’ve made offers to Brian Norman, WBO champion; Barrios, WBC champion; and Stanionis, WBA champion. All have been rejected. The one that I think has legs — and I saw him and his father come out in the last 24 hours — is Brian Norman, the WBO champion. We’ve made Top Rank two offers now for Brian Norman, both have been rejected in a pleasant fashion — I mean, we get on very well with Top Rank.
“He made a post yesterday saying ‘we made a counter offer.’ We have not received any counter offer. So Brian, if you would like to make a counter offer, please hurry up and do so. But I want to make that fight and if Brian Norman has the balls, and if Brian Norman is genuine — Brian, if you’re genuine, let’s go. Let’s speed it up, let’s get this fight made because these are the kind of fights we should be making.
“Brian Norman says Boots is not the boogeyman, he’s overhyped. If you believe that let’s get this fight made. This is a brilliant fight between two brilliant American fighters.”