Boxing: ‘Pros Are Coming Into My Territory,’ U.S. Amateur Star Shakur Stevenson Says

Many of you have not yet heard about Shakur Stevenson, but you will and soon. The teenager from Newark, New Jersey, is one of the most decorated amateur fighters in U.S. history. He turns 19 on June 28, and in many ways, he’s still just a kid with a dream.

However, what happened on Wednesday -- the International Boxing Association, the recognized international amateur governing body of the sport, decided to allow pros into boxing for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics -- did not really discourage the U.S. Olympic bantamweight hopeful the way you thought it might. His dream of Olympic glory wasn’t exactly snatched away from his hands, not the way he sees it.

“To be honest, I’m not angry at all,” said Stevenson, a bright young man with an engaging personality who many tout as possibly the next Floyd Mayweather Jr. “I feel like the pros are coming into my territory. They’re coming on my ground. They’re not used to fighting three hard rounds. They’re used to fighting 10-, 12-round fights, so they have a lot more time, and it takes a pro more time to get warmed up; and then, they’re not used to weighing in every single day, like you do for the Olympic-level boxing. They’re used to weighing in the day before and fighting the next day. That’s it. They can rehydrate. Amateurs can’t.

“So I look at it like the pros are coming into my territory; I’m not invading their territory,” he added. “I’m not worried about any of the pros that are going to come. When I first heard about the head gear being removed, you could tell something was up. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be -- I move my head when I fight -- but you could tell the move AIBA was going to make. I honestly thought the move was going to happen in 2020. My focus has been on whoever gets in the ring with me.”

Stevenson, the oldest of nine, has won the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, where he was named Outstanding Boxer. He was also a 2014 Youth Olympic Games Gold Medalist and Youth World Champion, the 2013 Junior World Champion, the 2012 Junior Olympic National Champion and 2012 Veles Cup Champion. If top pros were to compete, Stevenson might be faced with the prospect of fighting someone like WBA junior featherweight champ Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0, 10 KOs). The 35-year-old was a bantamweight gold medalist at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics and a seven-time Cuban national champion who finished his amateur career with a 463-12 record.

Stevenson shrugs at the thought.

“If I was older, like in my early 20s, and this happened, I would have been a pro already, but I would have still wanted to compete in the Olympics this year,” Stevenson said. “Think about it. Honestly, I’m thinking I might have four or five pro fights and I still would have went to the Olympics. I really don’t think guys like Mayweather, or [Saul ‘Canelo’] Alvarez, or [Gennady] ‘GGG’ [Golovkin] won’t take that risk in the Olympics, but I heard [Vasyl] Lomachenko might and someone like Rigondeaux might think about it.

“The way I see it, if guys like that do fight, I really have nothing to lose, because no one is going to expect an amateur to beat them,” he continued. “I guess we have to wait and see what pros are actually going to compete. I don’t really feel someone like Lomachenko or Rigondeaux should do it. They each have two Olympic gold medals. What’s the point of having a third one, what to kill some amateur’s dreams? I’m 123 pounds and I would have to face someone like Rigondeaux. I would love to fight Rigondeaux. I think I could beat him in a three-round fight. He’s one of my favorite fighters. There’s no way he would come in expecting me to beat him, but I really don’t care what pros fight in the Olympics. I’m coming away with a gold medal.

“No one on the U.S. team really thought it was going to happen until after this year,” Stevenson added. “I’m excited about this decision. I can’t do anything about it. I have to fight the guy in front of me, and I’m going to beat them. This is going to be embarrassing in the end when most of these pros go down there to Rio and don’t live up to the hype. I’m not afraid of this. I’m coming away with a gold medal.”

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.