What is at stake for Shakur Vs Nakathila?

What does Stevenson have to do to neutralize Nakathila and pave the way for a big fight in the second half of 2021? ESPN boxing analyst and two-division world champion Timothy Bradley Jr. looks at everything Stevenson brings to the table, how he has evolved as a fighter, how Saturday’s fight will likely unfold and how Stevenson shapes up against the biggest names at 130 pounds.

What makes Stevenson such a tough fighter to face?

Stevenson is a reverse southpaw. He’s naturally right-handed, but he’s more comfortable fighting in a southpaw stance. There really wasn’t any reason why he started fighting in that southpaw stance, because usually, a lot of trainers will train their fighter to keep his power hand behind him. But he actually has his more powerful arm in front of him with that stance.

I think one of the most telling signs of how dangerous Stevenson is as a fighter would be how quickly he has become one of the most avoided fighters in all of boxing. He’s struggled to get another champion in the ring with him, and no one is going to go out of their way to fight him.

It’s not because he’s a big power guy, he doesn’t have an extreme amount of power. But his skill level is so high that other fighters stay away from him because they don’t want to be embarrassed. He takes away the strengths of his opponents and nullifies them.

Is it more about those skills or the work in the gym?

What makes Stevenson so good is that he is a master from a distance. He understands all ranges of boxing. Some of that is instinct, but one of the main reasons he’s so dangerous is the amount of time he puts in at the gym.

He’s had a great boxing education. Kind of like when you go to high school, then college and all the way to your master’s or doctorate, that’s the kind of journey Stevenson has been on. He’s an Olympic silver medalist, and to even compete in the Olympics, you have to have a certain skill set, work ethic and dedication to the sport to be able to reach that level.

So, he takes his skills to the professional ranks, and in his 13th professional fight, he wins a world title at 126 pounds. Now he’s at 130 pounds, fighting for this interim title on Saturday, and in the picture at the top of that division.

Evolution of Stevenson’s fighting style.

One of the biggest improvements I’ve seen is how well he can fight on the inside. I think Stevenson is very dangerous on the inside, he’s ready for it and he likes to fight at close range more than he likes to fight on the outside. I would generally control the distance on the outside, use the jab, straight left hand to the body. Move when necessary, make opponents miss and then punish them. But now he is staying close, standing in the pocket and pressing forward.

Stevenson is using tactics on the inside that we haven’t seen much in a long time. In the modern era, there are guys like Gervonta Davis or Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr. on occasion, who can fight like that on the inside. But their style is a look into the past. I remember George Foreman used a lot of those tactics, Floyd Mayweather and Andre Ward as well.

They’re mutilating tactics that these fighters used. Guard manipulation to frame an opponent, either with his forearm or an outstretched arm, lining him up to set him up to shoot. Land these nice little body shots on the inside, changing levels out of nowhere. High guard, fake counterattacks, fake level changes. There are so many different skills that Stevenson possesses to fight on the inside. It’s unreal.

I’d say it’s going to take someone as smart as Stevenson, or as skilled, to compete with him. He’s a tough guy to handle.

Defensively, Stevenson takes away the most important punch in the box from all of his opponents, and that’s the jab. If you take away the jab, then how is a fighter supposed to prepare his offense? You completely isolate a fighter when you take that jab away, and it’s really hard to be effective without it. Stevenson does it better than anyone else in the sport.

How does Stevenson get the bigger fights?

When we don’t see Stevenson fighting in the ring, it’s like his name loses momentum and falls out of the conversation. He needs to spend some time promoting himself. At these big boxing events, he needs to show his face and more people need to get familiar with him as a person. I think that would help him.

Stevenson has an uphill battle to begin with, because he’s not really a one-punch knockout type of guy. And fair or not, public perception is affected by how you win fights, beyond just going out and winning every fight.

Saturday’s fight against Nakathila

Stevenson definitely has the ability to stop a guy like Nakathila. Of course, Nakathila is dangerous. He has a big fist, which is his right hand. He’s tall and skinny. He is very awkward. Nakathila will look to push Stevenson back and look for an opening to line up his right hand.

Nakathila throws that fist with such conviction, ferocity and force that he even loses his balance at times. Nakathila can’t fight backwards and can’t fight on the inside.

That’s what we’ll see on Saturday: how good Stevenson is on the inside. At this point, as I said earlier, I think Stevenson’s inside game has gotten so good that it overshadows his outside game. I always knew he had an outside game, but I love what I see from him on the inside, and I think that will come to the forefront in this particular fight once he figures out the right range and where he needs to be to be successful.

Stevenson’s future looks bright

Stevenson will be at 130 for a while, and I think once he gets a shot at a world championship, and he will later this year, as long as he handles his issues with Nakathila, he’ll get those big fights at junior lightweight.

Given that this fight is for the interim WBO title, I think Stevenson vs. Herring is inevitable, because Stevenson further cements that number one challenger status for Herring’s title. And then there’s the possibility that we see Stevenson against Oscar Valdez in the near future as well. Once he gets his hands on one of those titles, I really see the stars aligning, and the big fights will be there.

Beating Herring and Valdez is no easy task. But the biggest opportunity of all that I can see, and this is a little further away with those tougher fights in the middle, is facing a guy like Vasiliy Lomachenko. I know he’s been at 135 pounds for a while, but I think Lomachenko would be willing to face a guy who has two belts at 130, maybe even three with the IBF title vacant after Joseph “JoJo” Diaz had to vacate it.

Prediction

It’s very important how Stevenson looks in his fight. If he can show that he can fight in a more aesthetically pleasing fighting style, not only to a wider fan base, but to show other fighters that he can do it as well, it will only help his cause. It wouldn’t be devastating to Stevenson’s career to have another one-sided decision win. But if the opportunity presents itself, I would expect Stevenson to look for the knockout.

I think this type of fight is framed for Stevenson to definitely look a certain way and have a certain outcome. With the tremendous amount of skill he has, and the respectable punching power he possesses, I feel it’s his duty to try to finish this fight, if he can.

A KO win will have the fans clamoring for a fight against Valdez or Herring, or any other champion in this division. It will also put pressure on all the champions in the division, including Gervonta Davis, to step up and fight Stevenson.

Ultimately, I think Stevenson steps up and delivers against Nakathila, and I would be surprised if this fight goes past the eighth round.