Eddie Hearn recognizes how Shakur Stevenson is being criticized by many boxing fans since defeating Artem Harutyunyan in a sound boxing clinic over the weekend.
"I think right now Shakur Stevenson is one of the most talked about fighters in the world," the Matchroom Boxing promoter told Seconds Out recently. "Right now, and it's been like this for a while, it's Shakur against the world."
And that's where Hearn sees a void to change the narrative for the undefeated WBC lightweight world champion.
"There's no promoter, there's no mouthpiece, there's no megaphone saying 'this kid's pound-for-pound elite, this kid's doing pound-for-pound numbers in Europe, look at the ratings of this kid on ESPN,'" Hearn continued. "Instead, it's just him battling away on Twitter which I don't always recommend because I think you can just never win."
He added: "The reality is, and I've said it before and I'll say it again, Shakur Stevenson may be unbeatable. Shakur is brilliant. Sometimes his style is not all-out aggressive, Arturo Gatti. But guess what? He's winning these fights really fighting them the way he wants to fight."
On Saturday night, the 27-year-old Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) handily defeated Harutyunyan via unanimous decision. Hearn believes greater competition will boost Stevenson into superstardom and he would like to guide him through that upward trajectory.
"I think when you see him fight [Gervonta] 'Tank' [Davis], when you see him fight maybe even [William] Zepeda, you're going to see the best Shakur Stevenson," Hearn said. "I know I can make him a star because that's easy for me in all honesty.
"For me, it's easy work with Shakur Stevenson. I've got the dates, I've got the platform, I've got the megaphone — let's do it. But the deal's got to be right for everybody."
To perhaps facilitate the latter, Hearn invited Stevenson to Philadelphia this weekend to watch new Matchroom-signee, IBF welterweight world champion Jarron Ennis fight, and Stevenson happily accepted.
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