Bob Arum Talks Trying To Not Rush Shakur Stevenson Into Big Fights Too Early

While the focus of the April 20 ESPN pay-per-view will be on the WBO welterweight title matchup between Terence Crawford and Amir Khan, rising prospect Shakur Stevenson could potentially steal the show and raise his stock the most on that night.

Stevenson is reportedly going to fight former world title challenger Christopher Diaz on the April 20 Top Rank card from Madison Square Garden. The fight would be a major step up in competition for Stevenson, who is only 10 fights into his pro career, but has already emerged as a potential future title contender.

With Stevenson recently entering the IBF rankings at 126-pounds, making him eligible to challenge for a featherweight, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is closely monitoring the undefeated prospect to make sure he’s not being rushed into big fights too soon. In an interview with Boxing Talk, Arum spoke about Stevenson’s progress so far in his career and stated that he’s impressed with what he has seen so far.

“We’ll see. I was very pleased with his last outings. He was a kid and now he’s growing into a man’s body. He’s always had the skills. He’s got great trainers and we’ll see what we see. We’re not making it easy for him and as far as the kid is concerned, he wants to fight [IBF featherweight champion Josh] Warrington tomorrow. It’s like having a great yearling that you know is talented, but the trick about getting him to the second year and then to the Kentucky Derby is you got to pace him. You can’t just let him run free and fight Godzilla when he might not be prepared for him. He might be, he might not, but you’re not doing your job if you just rush them into it,” Arum said.

The April 20 card is not fully set, but there are plans to put rising lightweight star Teofimo Lopez on the show. The full interview with Arum can be read at this link.