Shakur Stevenson to face Robeisy Ramirez for Olympic gold on Saturday
- by Grant Boone
- in Sports
- — Aug 19, 2016
Bantamweight prospect Shakur Stevenson, 19, defeated Mongolian Tsendbaatar Erdenebat on Tuesday in the 56kg quarter-final, and he did so in front of a special guest.
Asked whether he heard Mayweather yelling from the stands during the fight, Stevenson said he had. "Then I came out and saw Floyd Mayweather and got a little more nervous".
Mayweather has been in Rio taking in the Olympics, and charting his movements on social media sites Instagram and Twitter. Both men and women will be in the ring August 18, including USA rising star Shakur Stevenson, and we've got all your Live Stream viewing details!
The unbeaten former pound-for-pound previously admitted that he was blown away by Stephenson.
But he also revealed how it had motivated him to ram the abuse back down the crowd's throat: "I didn't think it would be that bad".
"I see the next Floyd Mayweather", Mayweather said. "If anybody can break my records, this young kid here can do it. I truly believe in him". It's work time, just me and him, mano y mano. Stevenson will face a tough task against Nikitin in the semifinals.
"I got to keep focusing and come here for what I came for".
He will have a hard matchup in the final against either Ramirez, the flyweight gold medalist at the London Olympics, or the second-seeded Akhmadaliev, whose impressive tournament has included a first-round knockout of Argentina's Alberto Melian. They said he was an amateur but he's got a professional style.
Stevenson, 19, will be the first US men's fighter to fight for a gold medal since Andre Ward won the light heavyweight gold in 2004, and just the fourth American men's fighter to fight for a gold medal since the 2000 Olympics, along with Ward, Rocky Juarez (silver medalist at featherweight in 2000), and Ricardo Williams (light welterweight silver medalist in 2000). Take one fight as it comes. It was an outcome that raised eyebrows given Russell's apparent dominance against an unwilling opponent. I gave it my all.
"Congratulations to the guy that I fought". He got the victory. Hopefully he'll go on and continue to have a great career.
"But while enjoying the events I had one goal in mind - and that was to extend a warm welcome to Shakur Stevenson into The Money Team family".
