"They wanted to humiliate me". Shakur Stevenson has spoken angrily about Top Rank

WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson harshly criticized the promotional company Top Rank and ESPN after successfully defending his title.

Shakur was extremely dissatisfied with how Top Rank and ESPN organized the broadcast of his fight against Artem Harutyunyan and showed fans leaving their seats during the bout.

"Their purpose is to destroy me by any means necessary. The arena was packed, I'm a draw, they can't stop me… Top Rank and them's whole purpose was to try to put me down because I didn't re-sign. When I'm fighting on Thursday nights, they were trying to bring my value down…

When Tim Bradley tried to talk about me good, he had to switch it up. These n***as got things in their ears and they've gotta say certain things the higher-ups are telling them to say on air. I'm not gonna allow it to break me.” quotes Stevenson Michael Benson.

On the night of July 7, Stevenson defeated the challenger from Germany, Artem Harutyunyan, by unanimous decision.

It is worth noting that the fight against Harutyunyan was the last for Stevenson under his contract with Top Rank. Shakur has refused to renew his cooperation and will become a free agent.