Is Bob Arum Ready to Lose Free Agent Shakur Stevenson?

Shakur Stevenson’s time with Top Rank is nearing its end Sunday morning after the undefeated three-division champion finished his homecoming fight Saturday night in Newark, New Jersey, against Armenian Artem Harutyunyan.

“The live ticket price will probably be over $700,000, which is a good thing,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told BoxingScene on Tuesday. “He’s got fans, but he’s still not a pay-per-view attraction like (fellow Baltimore lightweight champion Gervonta) Davis.”

It’s the distinctive — and surprising — threshold where Stevenson, 27, finds himself, eight years after winning a silver medal in Brazil, the most successful performance by a U.S. Olympian in the previous 12 years.

“He’s a free agent, like in basketball or the NFL,” Arum said. “We had a frank discussion about him testing the market: ‘If you can get a better deal, feel free to take it. If you can’t, we love you, come back and we’ll be happy to fight for you.’ We would welcome him, no animosity.”

“Free agency is free agency. He – and we – have fulfilled our contracts.”

However, from where they were when they joined forces in 2016, it appears that Stevenson and Top Rank have both failed on that journey, even though the fighter boasts a 21-0 record with world titles at featherweight, junior lightweight and the WBC lightweight belt he now wears.

At the time, under the guidance of now two-division Hall of Fame champion Andre Ward and James Prince, Stevenson and Top Rank aligned as an opportunity for the promoter to address some of the criticism it received and deserved after watching Floyd Mayweather Jr. achieve his greatest financial success after leaving the company.

In the past, Mayweather has bluntly stated that Top Rank doesn’t know how to promote a black fighter.

Stevenson was supposed to be the answer. Yet while he retains a genuine charisma, engages on social media and doesn’t hesitate to pick up his phone to chat with reporters, he fights like Mayweather did in his later years — content to let his speed, evasion and skill win fights on the scorecards.

Asked why Stevenson hasn’t caught on with the mainstream the way Davis and Ryan Garcia have, Arum said: “Because people like fighters who win by knockout. (Stevenson) is not that kind of fighter. He’s a brilliant technician who wins his fights by wide margins. Not by knockout.”

“It’s the same reason Aaron Judge is more popular with baseball fans than a baseball champion. Home runs sell.”

With just 10 knockouts, Stevenson has shown an ability to knock out the best of his opponents, as he did in knocking out two-division champion Oscar Valdez of Mexico in 2022. But he has also done damage, as in his most recent fight, a bout against Edwin De Los Santos that earned him the outrage of being the 12-round world title fight with the fewest punches ever thrown.

Boos surrounded the Las Vegas arena as fans left early.

“He understands,” Arum said. “The day after the fight, (Stevenson) called me to apologize. He’s a very smart kid. He’s not stupid. He’s aware.”

Stevenson called out No. 1 lightweight title contender William Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs), but Arum said Zepeda’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, never called to negotiate the fight, even though he made it sound like he would follow Zepeda’s destructive stoppage of Maxi Hughes in March.

Instead, Stevenson fights Armenian Artem Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs) on ESPN Saturday, while Zepeda meets Giovanni Cabrera on DAZN.

“Oscar understands the fight,” Arum said. “(Zepeda) would get demolished. Why risk a fight with Shakur when they have such a big investment (in Zepeda)?”

“The problem with Shakur for a guy like Zepeda is he’s hard to beat and there’s not a lot of money at the end of the tunnel.”

Top Rank has its share of blame for this situation. After Stevenson’s first title win, at featherweight in 2019, the pandemic hit and he had to fill ESPN’s lineup in the MGM Grand Bubble against the unheralded Toka Kahn Clary and Felix Caraballo.

Then, after Valdez’s brilliant and exhilarating victory, Stevenson was handed Robson Conceicao, Shuichiro Yoshino, De Los Santos and now Harutyunyan, best known for losing to recently eliminated lightweight title challenger Frank Martin.

Stevenson has sometimes been his own culprit. In 2019, he was seen punching a woman on a Miami garage camera. He later sprinted out of his celebratory press conference in Valdez to confront the brawls in the MGM Grand lobby that he said were threatening his family, escorting them to safety, trading the full story of his victory for a story about his involvement in pointless brawls.

Stevenson has promised to make Saturday’s fight his most aggressive yet. Once it’s over, he’ll know if any promoters other than Top Rank are willing to sign him. While Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn has expressed interest, Top Rank seems better placed to offer Stevenson the type of fights that can move him up to that pay-per-view standard.

Currently in negotiations with Premier Boxing Champions to stage a fight between PBC WBA champion Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) and Top Rank IBF champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, Top Rank can offer new WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk to Stevenson, as well as the opportunity to fight the Davis-Lomachenko winner, Arum said.

Either that, or Stevenson opts for a new path charted by someone he trusts more, with Top Rank in a position to continue.

“I agree with Stevenson’s talent. But a lot of guys have incredible talent,” Arum said, mentioning American Top Rank title contenders Keyshawn Davis (10-0, also an Olympic silver medalist) and Abdullah Mason (13-0, 11 KOs).

“We have no shortage of extraordinary talent in America.”