“Embrace it” - Terence Crawford pats Shakur Stevenson on the back after controversial performance in WBC title win

Earlier this month, the unbeaten Shakur Stevenson claimed the WBC lightweight title by outpointing Edwin De Los Santos of the Dominican Republic.

The win made Shakur Stevenson a three-division champion and took his overall record to an impressive 21-0. Unfortunately, his performance also drew some criticism from fans and fellow fighters alike.

This was largely because the fight was uneventful, with Stevenson and De Los Santos, according to CompuBox, combining to land just 33 power punches throughout the bout.

Shakur Stevenson was quick to admit that his performance in the fight was bad, and later blamed the fact that he felt unwell for his under-par showing. This was, unfortunately, a reasoning many fans scoffed at.

However, one fellow fighter who has shown some support for ‘Sugar’ is current pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford.

‘Bud’ notably replied to a recent Instagram post from Stevenson discussing the fight with nothing but kind words, suggesting that his poor performance was nothing but “part of the game”.

"Part of the game bro! God give the chosen soldiers that can carry the most weight on they shoulders these tasks. Embrace it and keep bring great. It’s all part of your story."

Interestingly, while the post also saw a number of observers criticizing Stevenson, Crawford’s reply has received close to 1,100 likes on the social media platform.

The original post, meanwhile, has nearly 70,000 likes – suggesting Stevenson’s skills are more appreciated than some would like to believe.

---

Shakur Stevenson vs. Ryan Garcia – What did ‘KingRy’ say about Stevenson’s latest performance?

One fellow fighter who definitely wasn’t impressed with Shakur Stevenson’s performance against Edwin De Los Santos was fellow lightweight star Ryan Garcia.

‘KingRy’ not only labelled Stevenson “arrogant” in an interview with BoxingScene, but he also stated that ‘Sugar’ is “boring as sh*t” and claimed that he needed to “humble himself”.

Unsurprisingly, Stevenson was then quick to hit back at Garcia on social media, stating that while he wins on his bad nights, ‘KingRy’ lays down from a body shot. This appeared to be a reference to Garcia’s defeat to Gervonta Davis earlier this year.

Whether all of this talk will lead to a fight between Garcia and Stevenson in the future remains to be seen. Given that the two men are ranked in the top five at lightweight by The Ring Magazine, though, it could be a fight that might make sense.