Shakur Stevenson will be back with a vengeance to prove his naysayers wrong for his upcoming bout against Joe Cordina in the co-main event on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol card on October 12th at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He will be going into the Cordina fight hot on the heels of two back-to-back lackluster performances against Artem Harutyunyan, and Edwin De Los Santos.

Some boxing fans would argue that he is losing his PPV appeal. If you are one of them, the next bit of information might come as a shocker. Reports are filtering in that Shakur will earn a guaranteed fight purse of $5 million for his upcoming fight after he signed with Eddie Hearn‘s Matchroom Boxing recently. Skeptical of Stevenson’s sellability, boxing insider Rick Glaser wrote, “Great for #Shakur, but anyone that would pay Shakur 5 million to fight a Joe Cordina type should let someone else negotiate for them.”

However, Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV has refuted the initial reports, claiming that it is “fake news”. Citing a revelation from Eddie Hearn himself, Villegas said, “Shakur Stevenson is NOT making 5 million for the Cordina fight. Says that was fake news. Wouldnt tell me exact amount”, but it would still be quite a significant amount.

Thereafter, responding to a user who asked, “So was it more or less than 5m?”, Villegas stated, “More than three but less than 5.” Reportedly, Stevenson’s fight will be elevated to a pay-per-view event on DAZN, and the main event of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol will be broadcast live on ESPN+ at no cost to old subscribers,

Paying Shakur such an amount of money for fighting someone like Joe Cordina could backfire on his promoter, Eddie Hearn. It is a bold move from the Matchroom head as the Newark native has earned the reputation of being a boring fighter since he started his campaign in the lightweight division.

In fact, it is one of the reasons why Oscar De La Hoya did not sign him and also showed a hint of hesitation in making a fight between him and one of his charges, who is one of the brightest prospects in the lightweight division.

Oscar De La Hoya: Great talent, but I will give it a pass!

Although Oscar De La Hoya hailed Stevenson as the “greatest fighter” he had ever seen, he wasn’t too eager to sign him. For the boxer-turned-promoter, Stevenson lacked confidence and didn’t take too much risk in the ring. Therefore, even though De La Hoya was in the race to sign Stevenson to Golden Boy Promotions when the 26-year-old fighter was a free agent after his contract with Top Rank ran out, he pulled out later on.

“Shakur Stevenson, you’re a free agent, you’re a great fighter, great talent, but not for me. I believe that when somebody says ‘I’m not fighting for the public,’ I cannot promote (them),” Oscar De La Hoya said on X. Moreover, the Olympic gold medalist and former boxer didn’t seem to be in a rush to pit his fighter William Zepeda against the Newark native. “He has to be able to sell tickets. His boxing style is not that friendly to sell tickets but I think that William Zepeda vs. Shakur Stevenson is a huge fight,” De La Hoya said bluntly.

Safe to say, De La Hoya wants more from Stevenson in his upcoming performances to give the green signal for the Zepeda fight. Although there is no doubt amongst boxing purists about Stevenson’s elite defense in boxing, his offensive strategy is letting him down big time. Many are clamoring for him to be more explosive and not be afraid to trade punches with his opponent inside the ring.

Do you think Shakur Stevenson is getting the fight purse he deserves for the upcoming fight? Or, do you still believe that it is still early days for the Newark native to be receiving such hefty paychecks? Let us know in the comment section below.