Shakur Stevenson has faced fierce fan backlash after praising Teofimo Lopez following his tight WBA title win over Rolando Romero. Critics accuse Stevenson of deliberately hyping past opponents to artificially boost his own boxing record and reputation.
Teofimo Lopez barely scraped past Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero to snatch the WBA title on Saturday night. But the fight was an absolute eyesore. Romero simply refused to throw punches. He hurt Lopez badly with a massive right hook in the fifth round and left him cut up. Still, Romero repeatedly backed away instead of finishing off a vulnerable opponent.
Enter Shakur Stevenson with the excuses. Stevenson jumped onto social media to defend the flat performance. He claimed: “Teo has some sort of ability to make other fighters not throw a lot of punches and move a lot more then their usually style,” . Stevenson added: “I seen it with Loma, Ortiz, Sandor Martin And now Rolly. None the less Teo did what he could with the style that was presented and got the job done!” .
Angry fight fans immediately called total nonsense on the praise. Grouping a flawed Romero with elite craftspeople like Vasiliy Lomachenko, Jamaine Ortiz, and Sandor Martin makes zero sense. Martin stood his ground and dropped Lopez twice. Ortiz used slick combinations to push Lopez to the brink. Romero did not get outboxed by tactical magic. He looked bad enough to lose to division fighters across multiple weight classes after returning from a 15-month ring layoff.
This is a clear pattern for Stevenson. He routinely pumps up fighters he has already beaten to elevate his own status. Before William Zepeda fought Lamont Roach on August 1, Shakur boldly backed Roach. He declared: “I got Roach over Zepeda ngl and I lowkey got it BTA,” using slang to predict a thrashing. The moment Zepeda won, Shakur immediately switched sides to shower praise on his former victim.
Fans are sick of the social media glazing. Stevenson wants every past win to look like a hall-of-fame triumph. But fight fans see right through the routine, demanding real action in the ring over internet optics.
