I’m not
thrilled by having to choose the winner of Saturday’s fight between Shakur
Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez. I’m going against the betting odds in picking
Lopez even though I can see a scenario with the slim chance of a draw. Both men are very fluid in movement and
punching but Lopez has an almost inhuman. athleticism.
Meanwhile,
Lopez and his father have been laying down a pre-fight propaganda line designed
to prevent Stevenson from ‘running.’ In
my view, Stevenson had better run because Lopez has that unpredictable and
explosive power that defeated betting favorites like Lomachenko.
But I don’t
think Stevenson will be ‘running’ in the boring sense of the word. He’ll stick
and move, that’s not the same, and then eventually he’ll settle in.
The thing I
don’t know about Stevenson is how he’ll behave when he’s hurt. He will get hurt, that much I know. And in order
to win, Stevenson would have to hurt back in the early going. Letting Lopez get comfortable would be a big
mistake.
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