By Dan Ambrose: Jamel Herring was impressed with the maturity Shakur Stevenson displayed in his victory over Robson Conceicao last Friday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Herring feels that Shakur (19-0, 9 KO) could have stopped Conceicao (17-2, 8 KO) if he had gone for the finish because the Brazilian fighter was there to be knocked out.
With Stevenson now moving up to lightweight, Herring says he will have to change the way he fights because they hit harder at that weight class.
Herring is warning Stevenson about trying to take fighters down at 135, like he was doing against Conceicao. Conceicao hit Shakur a lot, and he can’t afford to take the same hits at 135.
There are a lot of guys at lightweight that Shakur can beat because they’re not big punchers, but against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, Ryan Garcia and Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, he’s going to have to be careful.
“I felt like it showed maturity, especially with everything that happened with the weight and everything. He still showed his composure and did everything he had to do,” Jamel Herring told Fighthype about Shakur Stevenson’s win over Robson Conceicao.
“I thought I could have stopped him, especially after the crash, but he took his foot off the gas as he pointed out. It could be because he tried to gain weight all this week.
“So, we’ll see what he does at lightweight. Shakur Stevenson may not be the biggest hitter or the biggest hitter to come up, especially coming from this division and going to the next division.
“He still has the level of technical ability and the skill set to hang out with a lot of those guys. I think he’ll still get frustrated and get a couple of those titles, if not all the titles at lightweight. He has to be smart. He can’t go in there and escort everybody like he did tonight.
“Eventually, you can do it if you slow them down, but you have to be smart while doing it. Definitely and his defensive skills,” Herring said when asked if Shakur’s technical skills will allow him to succeed at 135.
“If you can’t hit something, it doesn’t matter how big or strong you are. If you can’t throw a solid, clean punch at him, it doesn’t matter how great of a puncher you are up there.
“A lot of the guys that you mentioned on stage. Vasyl Lomachenko, he will always be a threat, no matter what people think. Devin Haney, you have to put yourself at number 1 because he is the division guy. He is a guy for a reason.
“I probably go back and forth between Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis, mainly because of their past opposition. Tank is still a sharp and strong fighter. He is more than power. Actually, he also has technical boxing skills.
“We just haven’t seen him with a high level opponent. I definitely see Tank Davis as a dangerous fight. If I’m going to have Tank and Lomachenko at No. 2, I should probably give Ryan Garcia No. 3.
“When you have the power of a star like Shakur Stevenson, trust and believe, they will force the issue to be mandatory or convince someone, one of those champions, to get in the ring with him bringing the bench with him. . It’s a posibility. Money talks,” Herring said.
