This past Saturday, Shakur Stevenson (22-0) defeated Artem Harutyunyan (12-2) via unanimous decision to retain the WBC Lightweight Championship.
Recently, ESPN reported that Stevenson had turned down Top Rank’s $15 million deal to become a free agent. In an interview with Naji, Stevenson talked about ESPN showing fans leaving the arena during his fight. Stevenson said that Top Rank wanted to destroy him because he didn’t re-sign with the promotion.
“Their purpose is to destroy me by any means necessary. The arena was packed, I’m a draw, they can’t stop me. Top Rank and their whole purpose was to try to put me down because I didn’t re-sign. When I’m fighting on Thursday nights, they were trying to bring my value down. When Tim Bradley tried to talk about me good, he had to switch it up. These n—as got things in their ears, and they’ve gotta say certain things the higher-ups are telling them to say on air. I’m not gonna allow it to break me.”
— sportsvids99 (@sportsvids991) July 7, 2024