Shakur Stevenson Won’t Be Fighting At MSG On June 12

Shakur Stevenson remains on tap to fight on June 12 but he won’t be doing so inside Madison Square Garden.

Stevenson is a rising star for Top Rank Boxing. He has already held world title gold with the WBO Featherweight Championship. He vacated the title in favor of moving up to junior-lightweight. While Stevenson is the mandatory challenger for the WBO Junior-Lightweight Title, he doesn’t want to wait. He’ll be back in action on June 12 and the frontrunner for his opponent is reportedly Jeremiah Nakathila.

While Stevenson was initially penciled in for Madison Square Garden, he will not be fighting inside the famous venue on June 12. Bob Arum explained why during an interview with Bad Left Hook.

“That date is firm. But it will not be in Madison Square Garden, because we can’t get any assurance that we could fill up the place. The problem with a big venue like that, even if a smaller number of people were let in, (between the) union contract, costs of building, forget rent — it’s prohibitive. They agreed to waive the rent, that doesn’t help. Another place will be announced shortly.”

A Ring City USA boxing event will be held in West Point, New York on April 22. Arum noted that it’s far more difficult to pull off a card in the metropolitan area.

“Yeah, that April 22 at West Point, there will be a minimum number of spectators, and the costs are not as great as in New York City and the Garden. Because ESPN’s production is so elaborate, we get killed. We’re hoping to get back to normal or near-normal in the fall, and we’re targeting Joe Smith at Madison Square Garden.”