Shakur Stevenson’s TKO Win Over Padley Fails To Impress, Tank Davis Responds With “LOL”

Shakur Stevenson immediately called out Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis following his ninth-round TKO win over his easy replacement opponent, Josh Padley, in Riyadh. Tank wasn’t impressed His reaction to Shakur calling him out on X was, “LOL.”

Shakur’s stock dropped. It really wasn’t the type of performance that would vault him into a fight against the ‘Face of Boxing’ Tank Davis. He needed an early knockout and a far better opponent than this guy.

Underwhelming Performance

Boxing fans on social media are raking Shakur over the coals after the way he fought tonight, struggling to defeat a ham & egger picked out by Hearn as the replacement opponent. This was not how you proved yourself worthy of meeting with the King of the lightweight division, Tank Davis. You got to do better than this.

WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) says his performance was “good” and that he’d proven he was an “elite-level fighter” with his three knockdown win over Padley (15-1, 4 KOs).

“It feels good. I put on a good performance, and there are levels,” said Shakur Stevenson to DAZN Boxing following his technical knockout win over Josh Padley tonight. “It was difficult because of the movement, and he had good little counters and shots that he was throwing. But like I said, there’s levels to this.”

The way Shakur fought tonight, he’d lose to half a dozen of the top 10 contenders. He’s not A-level at lightweight. He was one of the best at 130 and 126, but at 135, he’s not A-class. He’s B-class, and that explains why his promoter, Hearn, is matching him against weak opposition. He doesn’t want him to get beat before they get the Tank cash-out.

“I appreciate him for stepping up, being courageous, and fighting me. I want to fight Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. I think that’s the biggest fight in boxing. So, let’s make it happen,” said Stevenson.

“We know Josh Padley is extremely tough, and getting an opponent changed three days before the fight, but appreciate Tank was watching. If he wants to step up and have the biggest fight in the sport, we’re ready,” said Eddie Hearn to Ring Magazine, wanting Gervonta Davis next for Shakur Stevenson after his ninth-round technical knockout win over his fill-in opponent Josh Padley on Saturday night.

This fight showed that Stevenson is just a hype job creation, and that’s why he’s being matched against fighters like Josh Padley and Artem Harutyunyan. It’s the same playbook we see with other fighters of this era. They take easy fights, create a resume, and then look for a big payday.

Promoter Eddie Hearn should have picked Andy Cruz as the replacement opponent because at least Shakur would have a strong case to call out Tank because he’s beaten someone good.