It was yet another underwhelming performance against Artem Harutyunyan. Fireworks were promised but not delivered. A technically sound defensive boxing display by Shakur Stevenson saw him secure yet another Majority Decision win. After delivering a snoozefest against Edwin De Los Santos, he couldn’t live up to fans’ expectations of an electrifying all-out brawl. Naturally, two back-to-back boring performances should dim his star power, right? Wrong! Contrary to what many fans would expect, big promotional companies are queuing up to get his signature on the dotted line. The two-division champion is currently mulling over his options as the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Eddie Hearn, and Oscar De La Hoya are pulling out all the stops to sign him.

Stevenson, currently a free agent, has declined his previous promotional company Top Rank’s $15 million offer. The lack of intent from Bob Arum to provide him with star-studded opponents like Vasiliy Lomachenko, George Kambosos Jr, and Gervonta Davis has forced Stevenson to part ways with the company. Meanwhile, Gold Boy Promotions’ head honcho Oscar De La Hoya’s plans to build him into the next Mayweather has caught Shakur Stevenson’s attention.

How can we make Shakur great again?

At Prudential Center, Newark, Stevenson was booed by the home crowd for his performance against Harutyunyan. But can the surrounding negativity be turned into a positive? Is it time for Shakur Stevenson to turn into a heel in boxing? What if he could replicate Mayweather’s method of transforming himself completely into a defensive fortress that people pay top dollar for to watch him get beaten by their favorite boxer? Well, De La Hoya may have the perfect blueprint for the Newark native.

“Shakur needs good partners,” De La Hoya started off by saying to FightHub TV and then compared his boxing prowess to that of Mayweather. “You know Shakur reminds me of a Mayweather,” he said.

Giving a picture of his plans for Stevenson if he were to sign for Golden Boy Promotions, the six-division champion said, “When I promoted Mayweather for fifteen fights, I had every single opponent for him. All the opponents that Golden Boy had, we fed him to Mayweather. And Mayweather became Mayweather. So, I think Shakur is in a similar situation. If we have the right opponent, we can build another Mayweather.”

Stevenson even replied to the FightHub TV founder’s tweet who posted De La Hoya’s interview on X, with a speaking-head emoji, stamping his seal of approval on ‘Golden Boy’s’ assertion.

For those unversed in the professional relationship that Mayweather and De La Hoya shared, GBP promoted all of Floyd’s fights since 2007. Many of ‘Money’s’ big money fights with Marcos Maidana, Canelo Alvarez, and Miguel Cotto, wouldn’t have been possible without the involvement of ‘Golden Boy’. The reason? As all the aforementioned opponents were part of the company’s stable. Nevertheless, the association ended once Golden Boy Promotions’ former CEO Richard Schaefer, who Floyd had a great working relationship with, parted with the company.

While Oscar De La Hoya wants to give Shakur worthy opponents from his stable, Eddie Hearn also made his case to lure Shakur into Matchroom Boxing’s den.

Hearn’s two cents in the Stevenson tug of war

“Shakur Stevenson is one of the most talked about fighters in the world. I know I can make him a star; that’s easy for me. I’ve got the dates, I’ve got the platform, I’ve got the megaphone. Let’s do it,” Hearn said in one of his media interviews. Moreover, he will be rolling out the red carpet for Stevenson as Jaron ‘Ennis’ Boot makes his Matchroom boxing debut at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. With Shakur’s presence at the fight confirmed, he doubled down on the sweet talk. “I can’t praise him highly enough. He’s pound-for-pound quality,” Hearn proclaimed.

Condemning Top Rank for under-promoting him; Hearn plans to provide the fighter with suitable opponents that would help him build his profile. “William Zepeda, maybe a move to 140 to fight a Liam Paro or another champion at 140. And then look to other companies to do a co-promotional deal and a co-platform deal,” he said.

Who will Shakur Stevenson sign with, eventually? Let us know in the comment section below.