Bob Arum Says He Found The Next Floyd Mayweather

Top Rank founder Bob Arum claims one of his fighters is the next Floyd Mayweather and could even “exceed” the undefeated champ.

Arum has an array of elite boxers on his roster. A list of pound-for-pound caliber fighters like Vasyl Lomachenko and “Japan’s Bruce Lee” Naoya Inoue all fight for the said promotion. But Arum thinks that Shakur Stevenson, who is already a WBO featherweight champion after only 13 bouts, could be the next greatest boxer in the world.

In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Arum compared Stevenson to Mayweather he has the defensive prowess of the undefeated champ. However, Arum also thinks that Stevenson is a better fighter as he has superior attacking ability that Mayweather evidently never had.

"It's an innate skill that Floyd had. He (Stevenson) was a wonderful defensive fighter," Arum told Business Insider.

"Floyd was an orthodox fighter, which means you're a right-handed fighter. Shakur Stevenson is a southpaw, but he's a mirror image of Floyd Mayweather. My God, it's like the mirror! The right hand and the left hand, it's Floyd Mayweather!,” Arum added.

Based on Arum’s recollection, when he first saw Stevenson, he already knew he was the next Mayweather. And after the 22-year-old boxer proved him right, Arum now believes that Stevenson can even surpass Mayweather’s accomplishments and legacy.

"I think Shakur may even exceed Mayweather's accomplishments because I think he is going to develop not only as this great defensive fighter, which he is, but will have a better offensive arsenal than Floyd had. There's a tremendous upside to Shakur," Arum predicted.

Stevenson could prove Arum right in the future but in terms of declared earnings as an athlete, Mayweather is still far ahead of everybody in the sport. Last year, Ron Brashear a die-hard boxing fan, author and an advisor of Rahaman Ali, the brother of the legendary Muhammad Ali, even predicted that nobody in boxing could ever exceed the American’s worth and said that he “doesn’t foresee $914 million being exceeded anytime soon in our lifetime.”

Back in 2015, Floyd Mayweather Sr. himself stated that he already found the fighter who could follow the footsteps of his son. According to Mayweather Sr., lightweight sensation Devin Haney could be “the future Mayweather” in boxing.

“There’s going to be another Floyd, I got one already, his name is Devin Haney. Believe me, remember what I told you here on Sept. 13, 2015,” Mayweather Sr. told Inside The Ropes in 2015.