{"id":545760,"date":"2026-04-23T03:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/545760\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T03:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T03:01:09","slug":"shakur-stevenson-says-conor-benn-is-scared-after-team-contact-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/545760\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakur Stevenson Says Conor Benn Is \u201cscared\u201d After Team Contact Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"Add<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n


\n \"Follow
\n <\/a> <\/p>\n

Benn mocked the idea of a rehydration clause and told Stevenson to stop tweeting and actually fight at 147 or 154. That has turned the whole thing into a public dispute over whether either man genuinely wants the bout or is just using the other\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Stevenson\u2019s new post gives the story a sharper edge because he is no longer only talking about weight. He is now saying his side made direct contact and that Benn\u2019s team did not want to move it along.<\/p>\n

Shakur is hanging his hat on the fact that his team actually initiated contact. In his mind, \u201cwe reached out\u201d equals \u201cwe want the fight.\u201d By calling Benn \u201cscared,\u201d he\u2019s trying to shame him into the ring, hoping public pressure will outweigh Benn\u2019s refusal to budge on the weight.<\/p>\n

Benn isn\u2019t denying that calls were made. His stance has been consistent: if Shakur wants to be a five-division champ, he has to do it at 147 without a weight handicap. To Benn, asking for a rehydration clause is the same as not wanting the fight at all.<\/p>\n

Conor, 29, just came off a massive payday, reportedly around $15 million, for his fight against Regis Prograis under the Zuffa Boxing banner. He\u2019s currently the #1 contender for the WBC welterweight title and is heavily linked to a massive August fight with Ryan Garcia in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

From Benn\u2019s perspective, why take a massive pay cut to satisfy Shakur\u2019s weight stipulations when he can make eight figures fighting Ryan Garcia or chasing a WBC belt?<\/p>\n

Benn holds the big man card. He knows Shakur is the one looking to move up, so he\u2019s making Shakur pay the size tax.<\/p>\n

Shakur is smart. He knows that by claiming Benn\u2019s team \u201cbacked away,\u201d he plants a seed of doubt in the fans\u2019 minds. It shifts the conversation from \u201cShakur is too small\/demanding\u201d to \u201cBenn is terrified of the skill gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reality, it\u2019s a business deadlock. Shakur won\u2019t fight without protection against a guy who rehydrates like a middleweight, and Benn won\u2019t give up his primary physical advantage for a fighter he already finds \u201cboring\u201d to watch.<\/p>\n

Tom Galm is a boxing journalist who has covered the global fight landscape since 2014, specializing in heavyweight analysis, industry trends, and fighter psychology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benn mocked the idea of a rehydration clause and told Stevenson to stop tweeting and actually fight at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-545760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}