WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson has become the butt of the joke after his recent tweet on X. The Newark native has been chasing after a title defense against ‘Interim’ champion William Zepeda for a while. The pair was supposed to fight earlier this year, but Zepeda pulled out, claiming his hand got injured during the first Tevin Farmer fight.

Stevenson ended up squaring off against last-minute replacement Josh Padley, winning the fight via a strong 9th-round knockout. This followed a mandatory order from the WBC for Stevenson to defend his title against Zepeda after the Mexican had edged out a rematch against Farmer. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, who was interested in making the Stevenson-Zepeda fight, started causing problems for Stevenson.

Shakur Stevenson alleged that Turki Alalshikh was going back on his promise

You see, the ordeal began when Zepeda’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, tweeted, “After all the s**t talking, @ShakurStevenson pulls out of Zepeda fight.” Stevenson quickly took note of the tweet and informed his rival’s promoter that His Excellency had promised him a certain amount of money for the fight, and now he is going back on his word.

“Crazy thing is, on my soul, I would cook dude [Zepeda] so badly, he’s a mismatch,” Stevenson posted on X. “I want this fight so bad that these dudes want to take advantage of me by giving me way less than I got for Padley just because they know how bad I want it!” Nevertheless, Stevenson remained confident the fight would happen regardless, citing the likelihood of it going to a purse bid.

Moments after this, he tweeted, “Real men stand up, never bow down to nobody but the creator.” However, it now appears that Stevenson ended up agreeing to a deal with His Excellency, suggesting there was a misunderstanding between them. “Excited about my next fight[,] it was a misunderstanding between Turki and the team,” Stevenson wrote on X yesterday.

“Apologies on my part for overreacting 🦾 Let’s work @Turki_alalshikh,” he added. Seeing this, people on the internet took the 27-year-old on a joy ride of insults and mockery. 

Fans claim this is why Stevenson is not respected among boxing fans

While Stevenson’s apology may have been accepted by the Saudi Royal, fans didn’t quite respond the way he might have expected. One user came out swinging, revealing why they don’t respect Stevenson. “This [is] why I don’t respect you. You can’t even stand on your own words. Pathetic,” the user commented. Still, misunderstandings can get the best of anyone.

Another user highlighted that Turki Alalshikh is not someone fighters should be messing with. “Every time somebody talks crazy to 🦃 [Turki] they end up walkin[g] it back later lol,” the user wrote. Interestingly, at one point, Canelo Alvarez was also beefing with Alalshikh, but now, they are working together. 

Someone else branded Stevenson’s move to apologize to the chairman of GEA as insane. “Apologizing like this to another grown man is insane,” the user commented. However, Stevenson might not want to be at odds with the man who is paying him the big bucks. 

The next user speculated why Stevenson decided to apologize to Alalshikh. “He knows he can’t sell, so he’s on his knees just like ‘Tank’ begging for a payday,” the user wrote. However, Gervonta Davis has never expressed interest in working with the Saudi Royal. Instead, he has demanded special treatment to be part of their events. 

Meanwhile, one user seems to have sympathized with Stevenson’s approach. “Champ, that’s what ‘real men’ do! They own up if they overstepped. Hopefully, all of that is in the rea[r] view, and we can move forward to big fights,” the user wrote. However, a date for the Stevenson-Zepeda fight hasn’t been revealed yet. Hopefully it’s on the Crawford-Canelo undercard in September.

That said, it appears Shakur Stevenson was forced to apologize after lashing out against Turki Alalshikh. But the good news is, talks seem to be heading in the right direction. What do you make of the entire ordeal?