Top Rank boxing returns on ESPN tomorrow (Tuesday, June 9th) from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with WBO featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson testing the waters in a ten-round super featherweight bout against Puerto Rico's Felix “La Sombra” Caraballo. The June 9th and June 11th events —June 11th being headlined by Jessie Magdaleno vs. Yenifel Vicente — will be televised by ESPN and ESPN Deportes starting at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. It will be a four-hour block of programming both evenings. Here is what Stevenson had to say during a media conference call:

 

Q: Shakur, I know this is a non-title fight at 130 pounds. Is it your intention to go back down to 126 after this fight?

 

Stevenson: I don't know yet. I got to see how I feel at 130, at making the 130 weight. That'd be a question I can answer better for you after the fight. So, right now, no, I can't really give you a spot-on answer.

 

Q: Shakur, I remember talking to you on that Friday after your fight and your whole card got canceled. What was that weekend like for you? 

 

Stevenson: It was really bad because of the fact that I trained eight weeks, spent a lot of money on training camp, and then to find out that I wasn't getting paid, that kind of made me mad. To find out that I wasn't fighting made me mad because I felt like I put a lot of work in, I felt like I was gonna perform really good. I was mad at that. So, it wasn't a good week, but being around my family and friends kind of made it a lot better. 

 

Q: Bob [Arum], I've got a question for you. Should Shakur indicate to you that he does have a couple of fights left at 126, would you try to revisit the Josh Warrington [who is IBF featherweight champion] situation for him? 

 

Promoter Bob Arum: Absolutely. You know, let's see what's happening. Again, we're in uncertain times... who knows when we'll be able to do events with spectators? That's a fight that needs spectators and I know that the promoters over in the UK are working towards that. We're working towards that, absolutely, whether it's going to be in the States or in the UK, we want that fight —the Warrington fight — to happen. I promised that to Shakur. Now, if, on the other hand, he feels that he's better off going to 130, we'll go along with that. In other words, I'm not going to force a fighter to fight at a weight which he shouldn't be fighting at because it takes too much out of them to make the weight. So, Shakur has great people with him, great technical people, his corner people, his manager, James Prince. They'll discuss it with him and discuss it with us. But certainly, if he decides to stay at 126, I'm going to, one way or the other, make the Warrington fight happen. 

 

Q: Shakur. I was just wondering did you have any familiarity at all with Felix Caraballo before you knew he was your opponent? 

 

Stevenson: No, I ain’t never heard of him before.

 

Q: But since you found out he was your opponent —I know there's not a lot of videos available of him- — what have you been able to find out and how much footage have you been able to find on him to study? 

 

Stevenson: I watched like one round. I see everything I needed to see in that one round, and I see a lot of holding in his game, so I'm going to expose it.

 

Q: The one round that you saw — I mean, without giving away your game plan or anything — what did you notice?

 

Stevenson: I noticed that he's nowhere near on my level.

 

Q:  Do you expect him to come forward--like what are you expecting from him?

 

Stevenson: I expect him to come out loud and try to land a big shot. 

 

Q: What was it like for you, Shakur, to have the extra four pounds? I know you haven't made weight yet, of course, but what has it been like for you two to try to make 130 as opposed to 126, how much more comfortable? 

 

Stevenson: I'd say it's a little bit more comfortable, but I think that I'm really a 130-pounder, honestly what I've been feeling like, for sure. 

 

Q: The last time you had to make 126 pounds — I know you didn't get to the scale because the fight got canceled — but how was it for you the last time you were training to make 126? 

 

Stevenson: It actually was better than I thought it was gonna go, but it's still work to get there. It's not easy. I'm a really big 126.  

 

Q: Obviously, the world is going through a large amount of turmoil with the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. How have the problems surrounding our country and the world impacted you mentally and emotionally and how have you been dealing with those emotions?

 

Stevenson: Honestly, I've been more focused on my fight. I understand everything that's going on and I'm with my people in everything that's going on, but I got a fight coming up so I've been in the gym every day, {and then} going home. When I go home, I'm watching boxing. I've been in camp so I'm not really too focused on anything that's going on outside. I'm more locked in on what's going on the inside as far as boxing.

 

Q: Talking about the boxing, your last fight was eight months ago. As far as you know, having that kind of distance between fights, do you think that time off will impact you either positively or negatively, and what goals you have to yourself physically and what you hope to see from yourself in this fight?

 

Stevenson: No, I don't think time off is going to do anything because I'm a gym rat and I'm always in the gym. So, me being a gym rat and in the gym, I probably got to get off a little rust in the first to two rounds, but other than that, I'm ready to go. I'm in the gym every day, ain’t no way I'm having rust just from being off for eight months and not been sparring. I did a full training camp on March 14 and then got right back in the gym, took like a month off, and then got in the gym. So, I'm a gym rat. I don't think it's going to affect me.

 

Q: Given that you don't have the WBO featherweight championship and there was talk about you potentially have a reunification match with [IBF champion] Josh Warrington, there is one fighter that has said that you are basically the only one that has the courage to step up to him and that's the WBC champ, Gary Russell Jr. How would you feel about a potential match-up with Gary Russell, Jr.? 

 

Stevenson: That'd be a hell of a fight with me and Gary. I think we really are the best two featherweights, skill-wise, in the division, so I think that'd be a hell of a fight.  Gary knows I'm the only one that... I see how he talks about everybody else, he doesn’t respect a lot of the other fighters, but he respects me a lot because he's been around me, he knows I'm a boxer, he knows what I'm about. So, I understand Gary when he said that.

 

Q: And how is it like working with the team around you with [Hall of Fame boxer] Andre Ward being by your side and also sometimes working with [WBO welterweight champion] Terence Crawford? 

 

Stevenson: It's good to have them people around me, and I appreciate having them. Andre Ward is a big blessing to me. He helps me out in a lot of ways inside and outside the ring. So, Terence is also like... Terence keeps me competitive, like keeps my mindset competitive because I'm just as competitive as him, but he's so competitive, it makes me be even more competitive. So, like those guys in my life and in my career, it helps me a lot. 

 

Q: You’ve mentioned that you're not sure of what your future is going to be in terms of staying at 130 or going back to 126 after this fight. But is there a part of you that's kind of already thinking of how you would fare against any of the other champions at 130 in anticipation for what I presume is an eventual move up to 130? 

 

Stevenson: Of course. Of course, I think that the champions at 130 are all decent fighters. I've already pictured myself in the ring with all of them already, so I've already been thinking about that. I've been thinking about being in the ring with Oscar Valdez, with Russell, {Leo} Santa Cruz, JoJo {Diaz}, even Jamel {Herring}, if I have to. 

 

Q:  Do you feel that with those potential fights, do you feel that it may be easier to get them done down the road than it is for, say, a fight against Josh Warrington because I know that's been a fight you've been wanting for well over a year now at this point? 

 

Stevenson: Yeah, I think that'd definitely be an easier fight with Josh Warrington. With Josh Warrington, there comes a lot of business and politics with that like…. as far as the money being made for the fight and stuff like that. So, I think them fights would be a lot easier, because like Valdez and Berchelt and them guys, they’re with Top Rank. JoJo is with Golden Boy. I just fought a Golden Boy fight in my last fight {Joet Gonzalez}, so I think them fights would be lot easier than a Warrington fight.