Former WBO featherweight champion Shakur ‘Fearless’ Stevenson is expecting an easy win for WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 27-0 (21) when he faces Filipino superstar Manny ‘Pac Man’ Pacquiao 62-7-2 (39) in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 21.
Newark southpaw Stevenson 15-0 (8) made the comments this week when he was putting the final touches on his preparation for his fight against Namibian knockout artist Jeremiah Nakathila 21-1 (17) at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas this Saturday night.
Spence versus Pacquiao will be an all-southpaw showdown.
“I think I have better success against southpaws because there are certain fighters I’ve been watching my whole career as with Floyd [Mayweather] and Andre Ward,” the 23-year-old Stevenson said to FightHype.
“They fight orthodox fighters. I think that I have more success fighting another southpaw, but it’ll probably be a little bit different for Manny [against Spence], but Manny has been in there with all kinds of fighters.
“Maybe he hasn’t fought a southpaw in a while, but he’s fought a lot of fighters in his whole career.
“I’m pretty sure he should be straight with Errol Spence’s kind of style, but Errol Spence is kind of bigger. He’s got the reach.
“As long as he doesn’t get caught with something reckless, that should be an easy one for Errol.”
At 42, Pacquiao is 11 years older than Spence but he does still have some tools in his arsenal to trouble his younger opponent, says Stevenson.
“I think he’s [Pacquiao] got to use his speed and timing,” Stevenson said. “Manny has got decent timing and decent speed. I think he’ll have to use his speed to try and get off before Errol gets off because Errol is younger, stronger and should be in better shape.
“I think as the fight goes on, it’ll get really ugly for Manny Pacquiao. So he’s got to try and get off as quick as he can and get ahead of the scorecards.”
With Spence and Pacquiao set to lock horns, WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 37-0 (28) has been left out in the cold with few viable options for his next fight.
Stevenson’s view is that Crawford should face either Shawn ‘Showtime’ Porter 31-3-1 (17) or Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman 29-1 (22), both former world titleholders.
“I don’t like what’s going on with Bud’s situation,” Stevenson said. “Bud wants to fight the big fights. He wants to fight all these guys.
“He’s doing everything in his power that he could do to make it happen, but he’s not getting the fights. I don’t like Bud’s situation. It’s business, it’s politics, so it happens, I guess.
“Probably a Shawn Porter fight or Keith Thurman. Other than that, he’d beat everybody else. There’s really nobody else. Maybe Danny Garcia too.”
