A highly-rated trainer believes Shakur Stevenson was unable to knock out Teofimo Lopez because of an ongoing injury.
Stevenson put on an exceptional display against Lopez at Madison Square Garden last Saturday night to capture the WBO super-lightweight title and become a four-weight world champion at just 28-years-old.
The impressive defensive skills of Stevenson proved to be too much for Lopez on the night as he managed to win just one round on all three of the ringside judges scorecards.
Stevenson has received plaudits from fans and analysts around the world with many already considering the unbeaten 28-year-old from Newark to be a future all-time-great.
Another man who was impressed with Stevenson’s performance was top trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis, who is also the father of former unified world welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Speaking to YSM Sports Media, Ennis claimed that Stevenson was unable to get the stoppage victory over Lopez because he had sustained an injury to his left hand in the lead-up to the fight.
“Shakur knows he could have got a stoppage too but Shakur hurt his left hand. His left hand was hurt, if you notice he was using that jab a lot and he threw that left hand every now and then because I was screaming out, everybody said they heard me in Philly.
“That’s my young buck, you know what I mean? And I was telling him ‘Throw that straight left hand’ then I noticed when he did throw it, he wasn’t throwing it real hard. But he looked spectacular man. You can’t ask for nothing more.”
It’s no secret that Stevenson has been dealing with a number of hand issues during his professional career, but this is yet to really limit the 28-year-old who once again established himself as one of the best fighters on the planet with that win over ‘The Takeover’.
