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Matchroom reports that Shakur Stevenson has sustained a hand injury, which requires immediate surgery, and won’t be able to defend his WBC lightweight title against Joe Cordina on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev in the Riyadh Seasn event on October 12th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
(Photo credit: Julie Goldsticker)
Shakur had been seen working on mitts with Terence Crawford in the last two weeks. It’s unknown if he overdid it, sitting down on his shots too much, trying to impress the superstar.
Stevenson was under a lot of pressure to be more entertaining going into his now-canceled fight with Cordina, and he may have put more power in his shots than his hands could handle.
This was supposed to be a showcase fight for Stevenson, 27, in his first fight of a two-fight contract with Matchroom. It’s a disappointment for fans, who were looking forward to seeing Shakur fight next month on October 12th, and they didn’t care that they would have needed to pay.
“He hurt his hand last night after a session of sparring and tore a tendon in his knuckle and had to have immediate surgery,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about Shakur Stevenson’s hand injury.
“Unfortunately, he’s out of the Joe Cordina fight on October 12th and won’t return until early 2025. He went straight into surgery, and I’m hoping for a good job in there and back to work as soon as possible.
“He’s very disappointed. Obviously, he was looking forward to fighting in Riyadh Season, but he needs to get this done. He can’t continue fighting. As I say, a quick operation. and back to business in 2025,” said Hearn.
Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) had been set to headline the undercard on PPV for $14.99 against the recently beaten Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs). The announcement from Matchroom failed to mention whether Shakur will fight Cordina in 2025 when he returns after recovering from surgery.
The injury throws a wrench in the wheelhouse of promoter Eddie Hearn’s plans for Shakur Stevenson, who he praised yesterday as the guy to beat Gervonta Davis in 2025.
“I am definitely disappointed that I won’t be able to fight on October 12. I have been super sharp and feeling great in camp and was planning to put on a show next month against Joe Cordina,” said Shakur. “But I have to listen to the doctor and have these injuries fixed immediately so that I can come back stronger than ever at the start of 2025.”
If Hearn goes through with his plans to match Shakur against William Zepeda in February and Tank Davis in the summer, that would work perfectly because he wouldn’t need to worry about extending his two-fight contract to make the fight happen with Gervonta.
Things will be much easier if Hearn can get the Tank fight for Shakur in the second match of his two-fight contract. Hearn could then decide whether to invest in extending the contract with Shakur or let him walk if Tank Davis blows him out.
Assuming Hearn goes through with the plans of matching Shakur against Zepeda, that’s another tough fight that Stevenson could lose. If Shakur wins both fights, Hearn will likely have a lot of competition to sign the free agent because he would be on top of the sport and make a lot of money for whoever he signs with.
ℹ️ Update on #StevensonCordina
Get well soon, @ShakurStevenson 👊 #RiyadhSeason #BeterbievBivol pic.twitter.com/844PrrEWM7
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) September 11, 2024
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