Stick a fork in Curtis Stevens

I remember watching this guy fight at a live card several years ago and hearing what a highly touted prospct he was and he nearly put me to sleep in a fight that he could have lost.

I was not impressed that night and not impressed when he subsequently lost his first fight.

I was also at his fight last time out when he pummelled that Polish kid on the Adamek-Gunn undercard--which was about the best I have seen him look.

Stevens is a **** up!

Physically, had ALL THE TOOLS to beat Brinkley. He just doesn't have it mentally and before he was dropped in the sixth it looked lke he had already mentally quit.

Good effort by Brinkley.

Stick a fork in Stevens.

:smoke

 

Can he even comfortably make middleweight?

If he can, then he might have more success there but Stevens problems (I think) are mostly of the mental variety and I'm not sure he can ever fix that.

Incidentally, Stevens lost to my boy Donyil in the amateurs.

:smoke

 

:nod

Exactly!

I think he can beat some decent fighters. The problem is, like you said, once things aren't going his way he can't dig deep.

In that light, I think Atlas had a pretty decent (albeit far from great) analogy with Tyson-Holyfield (or as Atlas likes to say, "Hollyfield")

 

In my eyes, Stevens mentally quit in the sixth just before he got dropped. Things were not going his way. When that happens, a fighter can typically do one of three things:

A. Dig down deep and try to find a way to swing the momentum in your favor.
B. Lay down
C. Go through the motions without making any major adjustments

Maybe you are correct and Stevens just isn't too bright, but I don't know if that's really the case.

I think when things aren't going his way, he kind of just goes into a shell.

I'd also like to note that when I first saw him fight I was extremely disappointed in his low activity rate. He seems to have gotten better with this recently, but for someone with his speed, athleticism, and power--I would think it would serve him well to start working moe with his jab.

He has a pretty decent jab that he never really seems to utilize.

 

He definitely needs a new direction. He's still young, but all the change in the world might not be able to fix his problems.

You make good sense in saying he fell in love with his power. He pounced on that Polish kid and looked very impressive. Even tonight, he came out like a ball of fire and started landing some very nice hooks to the head, several of which apeared to shake Brinkley at the foundation.