Shakur Stevenson' s First Fight At 135 Against Jamaine Ortiz?

I just thought about this, but why not make Stevenon's first fight at 135 against Jamaine Ortiz? There are a couple reasons why I think this would be a good fight and one that should be made.

First, Ortiz just fought Loma, and there are plans for Shakur to fight Loma after the fight with Haney (provided Loma is successful against Haney or that the Haney fight is even made). This would be a great way to hype up the fight, so we can compare performances.

Second, Ortiz has been saying for awhile that he wants to fight Shakur and be the first guy to beat him. Ortiz says he'll be the first guy to give Shakur a loss. It's one of his goals, and it's one that he feels absolutely confident he can achieve. A guy with that kind of confidence will give the fans a fight to remember.

Third, I think Ortiz has won himself a good fight from Top Rank based on his past performance.

I'm sure Shakur feels he's up for the challenge. Shakur doesn't believe any man can beat him and that he's better than Canelo and all the other top fighters. Having two guys like that butt heads will give the fans a fight to remember. Plus, the fans will be very willing to tune into that fight now that Ortiz has upped his reputation.

Think this would be a good fight? And how do you think it would turn out?

 

I definitely favor Shakur in that fight, but I also think it could be an upset. One reason is that it's his first fight at 135, which is almost always a more difficult experience then subsequent fights at a higher weight. I also so some things against Robson that had me a little concerned. If Robson were able to punch in a professional way rather than an amateur way, I think that Shakur vs Robson fight would have looked more competitive. Despite what Compubox said, Robson landed a lot of punches, so much so that it forced Shakur to have to start walking Robson down, and of course, Robson has no inside game.

I also noticed that Shakur has typically fought guys smaller than him. I think Nakathila was his size. And Herring was close enough. But I wonder what happens when Shakur starts fighting guys who might be a little bigger than him, and Jamaine is bigger than Shakur.

On top of that, Jamaine is very adroit at using angles and his fight to shift laterally. Shakur typically doesn't use angles, aside from taking that outside step. He's much more a fighter that relies on his reflexes and a step back/lean back. He either parries, septs back or leans back. Jamaine's style would be awkward for Shakur, with that high activity and punch output would force Shakur to have to go into his toolbox and show us things we haven't seen before.

I could be wrong and Shakur blows him out of the water, but I think it would be a very difficult fight for him, to be honest. I suppose we'll never know unless it happens.

 

Yeah. That's definitely the best argument against making this fight. Maybe they'll start investing more in Ortiz.