Shakur Stevenson has announced his retirement from boxing at age 26, posting to social media this evening.
Stevenson, who currently holds the WBC lightweight title and has also won belts at featherweight and super featherweight, last fought in November, beating Edwin De Los Santos in one of the most unwatchable fights of 2023.
“I’m officially retiring from the sport of boxing,” he wrote on X. “I’ll be in the gym forever perfecting my craft and helping the next generation become great and chase they dreams, but I ain’t (fuck with) this weak boxing game.”
Stevenson won a silver medal representing the United States at the Rio Olympics in 2016, and has obviously had major success as a professional since turning over in the spring of 2017.
Rightfully so, this will be treated with major skepticism by boxing fans and observers. If he officially vacates his 135 lb title, it may be taken more seriously, but until then, this probably won’t be taken much more seriously than Top Rank stablemate Teofimo Lopez’s “shock retirement” last June, which did not last once it was clearly stated to him that he’d have to give up the belt he held at the time.
Lopez is scheduled to fight Jamaine Ortiz on Feb. 8, and odds are we’ll wind up telling you what Stevenson’s next fight is soon enough.