Shakur Stevenson’s options just ran out. In the latest AKHi TV, Robert Garcia — Raymond Muratalla’s trainer — says WBO president Gustavo Oliveri is on his way to mandating the fight, and Garcia has told him Muratalla’s side wants to push for it. According to the AKHi host, the WBO informed Garcia directly that the Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz fight Shakur was negotiating after leaving Zuffa is not happening: Muratalla, the IBF champion at 135, is moving up and will become Shakur’s mandatory at 140. Fight Muratalla, or vacate the WBO title.
Garcia is clear-eyed about what comes next: a purse bid. And that is where Shakur’s math collapses. The split discussed in the clip is 75/25, which means a promoter would have to bid more than $20 million for Shakur to see the $15 million he demands. Garcia’s own words: if Shakur does not like the money the winning bid produces, “he might vacate. I don’t know.” Garcia, per the host, believes exactly that — purse bid, then vacate.
The AKHi host disagrees on the ending, and his reasoning is pure legacy: he does not believe Shakur vacates, because walking away now would put him in a rivalry with Canelo Alvarez for the title of biggest duck in history. The host’s own math is just as brutal. Fifteen million for Shakur means a $20 million bid plus another $5 to $10 million to promote the event. “Who’s going to spend 30 million for a Shakur fight?” Zuffa, by the host’s account, was willing to pay $7 million for the Rayo Valenzuela fight and $5 million for a Padley-level stay-busy — and Shakur walked away from both.
Stylistically, the host wants this fight more than Pitbull, and says why: Muratalla does not overcommit, throws fast combinations, and works at a speed and distance that gives a counter-puncher problems. That is precisely the profile Shakur keeps avoiding. The host’s closing charge sheet is blunt: “You ducked Devin at 147, at 144, at 145. You ducked Foster.” After Haney agreed to a catchweight, Shakur’s side asked for a same-day weigh-in. Now the sanctioning body has removed the menu. There is no Pitbull shortcut and no more conditions to hide behind — there is a mandatory, a purse bid, and a price tag the market is about to set for him in public.
Video credit: AKHi TV.
Read next: Fannon: Shakur Has 22 Days to Decide on Pitbull — or the WBO Orders Muratalla
