Shakur Stevenson’s “High-Level Chess” Defense Reignites Boxing’s Entertainment Versus Skill Division

Shakur Stevenson defended his potential fight against Teofimo Lopez today, pushing back on the claim that it’s going to be a low-output snoozer. Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs) says his fight with Teofimo will be “high-level chess.”

Fans Reject “High-Level Chess”

That phrase isn’t what the fans were looking to see, as people who purchase PPV events want to be entertained with high-output slugging. Fans don’t want to watch 1990s retro fights involving a single punch followed by a three-step pullback.

Teofimo’s Boring Last Fight

Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) can be entertaining when he’s fighting aggressively, but his last contest against Arnold Barboza Jr. on May 2, 2025, at Times Square in New York was criticized by fans for being “boring.” Fans remarked that it looked like Teofimo chose to mimic Shakur’s fighting style by throwing jabs, retreating, and focusing on single punches.

Fans labeled it as such:

– “Crap fight”– “Dreadful”– “No heart”– “No grit”– “No passion”– “Legit pathetic to watch”

U clearly don’t like the sport of boxing like u pretend to, High level chess is what the true word for a fight like this would be!! https://t.co/IJP4uoph4a

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) September 1, 2025

A Different Path for Them

As commentator Dan Canobbio pointed out, he’d like to see Shakur and Teofimo in “3 or 4 fights in the division” rather than against each other. He brings up a good point. Those two fighters are entertaining to watch when matched against aggressive, offensive-based fighters. But when they’re in with boxers, they tend to be less interesting to watch.

The ideal opponents for Teofimo

Gary Antuanne Russell
Subriel Matias
Keyshawn Davis
Ernesto Mercado
Oscar Duarte

“Talent-wise, Shakur is probably better. But I feel like Teofimo’s heart, his mentality, he’s more like a true warrior,” said trainer Robert Garcia to ESNEWS, picking Teofimo Lopez to defeat Shakur Stevenson.

Shakur would be better matched against Abdullah Mason, Jadier Herrera, Raymond Muratalla, Floyd Schofield, and Andy Cruz. These are fighters who would be attacking Stevenson, trying to knock him out.  He would be forced to be entertaining.