‘In choosing to win he’s getting less entertaining’: Lampley talks Stevenson criticism

Longtime commentator Jim Lampley reacts to negative fan reception after Shakur Stevenson’s last fight.

Boxing commentator Jim Lampley spends some time with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV to have an in depth discussion on a number of topics including this weekend’s main event between Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov, and some recent news of Canelo vs Berlanga as well as the fallout from Shakur Stevenson’s latest performance. Check out some excerpts of what he had to say below.

Lampley on the biggest challenge Madrimov poses to Crawford

“At the end of the day he is sturdy, he is brought up in the sport in that Eastern European instructional style which has proven very effective for a lot of fighters from his background...

“Crawford very intelligently realizes if he’s goingt o convince the powers that be, in this case the sheikh and the #1 dollar-for-dollar fighter in the world Canelo Alvarez that’s he’s a logical and worthy opponent for a matchup with Canelo Alvarez, make more money than Terence has made in his career up to this moment, this is a way to take a step toward doing that.”

On Canelo choosing to fight Berlanga

“If he was fighting the Berlanga that was in the middle of the long knockout streak at the beginning of his career a year and a half, two years ago, that would look a bit better. Since then Berlanga has been somewhat defrocked and shown to have some technical holes in his game. Technical holes in your game are not a good way to beat Canelo Alvarez, he’s a brilliant technician.

“I think Canelo is going to undress Berlanga but I could be being unfair to Berlanga by the fact that I’m going so quickly to the logical conclusion here. But at the end of the day I expect Canelo to technically undress him and make a strong statement that he’s still Canelo Alvarez.”

On whether Canelo should be obligated to fight the best opponents available

“He’s Canelo Alvarez. Functionally and in reality he has no obligations. He has put himself at a different level and at the level from which he can call the dance. And if fans don’t like what Canelo does, he’s still Canelo Alvarez, he’s still the one who determines in this particular instance who’s going to make what kind of money for what kind of risk against a fighter like him. So as long as he’s in that position of power, he doesn’t have to care much about who criticizes him or why.”

On Shakur Stevenson being criticized for his style

“Every fighter in the world ultimately deals with this same equation relative to fans: how much am I going to bend to the demand to be entertaining and therefore take risks that might not necessarily benefit me in the ring, and how much am I going to stick to the mantra that my trainer has taught me, the approach that my intelligent understanding of boxing has given to me and taught to me, and accept the fact that maybe somewhere I’m going to hear boos in the background or disapproval from some fans or get ripped for it on the web when I leave the ring?

“Shakur Stevenson is choosing to win and so far in choosing to win he’s getting less entertaining...I think a fight against Tank Davis would be a great attraction but nobody wants to see Shakur Stevenson go in and play chess with a tabby cat, they want to see him fight.”