Robert Garcia is not guessing. In a clip played at the start of this AKHi TV video, Muratalla’s trainer speaks in the first person: he talked to Shakur Stevenson at his gym, Shakur said he wanted the fight, and everybody knew Muratalla’s last fight at 135 was done and 140 was the next step. Then, Garcia says, he was told Shakur still wanted the fight at 135. Garcia’s read is blunt — Shakur was happy to talk Haney at a 144 or 145 catchweight, but wanted Muratalla drained to 135. The WBO ended the argument by putting Muratalla at number one. Now, Garcia says, the fight has to happen at 140 or Shakur has to vacate.
The host then reports Garcia’s second point, and it is the headline: Garcia says his side reached out to make the fight, and Shakur said absolutely no to fighting Muratalla next at 140 to defend his WBO and Ring Magazine belts. Only 135, and 135 only. That is Garcia’s account as reported in this video, not a Shakur statement made live on camera — and it matters, because a mandatory is not a voluntary. You do not get to move a mandatory challenger back down a division because you like the matchup better drained.
From there the host builds his own charge, and it stings because it is specific. He calls Shakur a matchmaker, not a fighter: instead of fighting Devin Haney, he told Devin to fight Boots Ennis; Foster wanted him, and he told Foster to fight Raymond Ford and then another name first; Muratalla wanted him, and he told Muratalla to fight Andy Cruz. The host says ducking is a criterion on his own pound-for-pound list, and ducking drops a fighter down it. He also points at the contradictions — Foster was told to come from 130 to 140, agreed, and still got no fight; Muratalla is coming up to 140, and now the demand flips to 135.
The host closes with a real style point, not just talk. Muratalla did not overcommit against Andy Cruz, he kept his distance and let quick shots go, and with his reach that could force Shakur to be more offensive than he wants to be. That is the same mandate Timothy Bradley weighed in on this week — and nobody in this video picks a winner, because the fight has not been signed.
Our take: if Muratalla is easy work, as the host says Shakur has called him, then easy work at 140 should be the easiest signature in boxing. Fighters who stand on business defend against the mandatory at the champion’s weight. Fight him at 140, vacate and say why, or let the sanctioning body decide. What you cannot do is call a man easy and then ask him to shrink to meet you.
Video credit: AKHi TV.
