The 24-year-old light welterweight contender Mercado admits that Shakur has shown no interest in fighting him and has blocked him on social media. He’s running into the same problem he’s had with his callouts of Richardson Hitchins and Keyshawn Davis. None of them has agreed to take him up on his offer.
After the way Eddie Hearn-promoted Mercado knocked out Moran, getting those three to agree to fight him could prove difficult. It would help if Turki Alalshikh took an interest in Ernesto the way he has other fighters, because he can make it worthwhile financially for the Lopez-Shakur winner to face him.
Calling Out the Top Names
“Yeah, I’m looking for all the names, all the smoke. Specifically, I want Teofimo. I want Shakur. I want Keyshawn,” said Ernesto Mercado to Lalosboxing, calling out three fighters following his win over Antonio Moran last Saturday night in Stockton.
Turki said during the kickoff press conference between Lopez and Stevenson that he has a big fight for the winner. That’s likely to be Mercado because he doesn’t have the name recognition yet. Also, it would be self-defeating for Turki to use Ernesto as the opponent for the winner, because possibly knocking out Stevenson or Lopez. That would make them less viable options for Alalshikh to use in future Riyadh Season cards.
“Yeah, I want the winner [of Teofimo vs. Stevenson]. I’ve been calling out Shakur for a long time. He’s blocked me. So, I don’t know if he wants to. But if he goes down to 135 or holds at 140, I’ll take it from him. Africa [Richardson Hitchins]. I think we can make something exciting happen. I think we can give the fans an entertaining show,” said Mercado.
IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins is hoping to get the winner of the Teofimo-Stevenson fight himself. If not the winner, he wants to face Keyshawn. Mercado is not one of the names that Hitchins has mentioned.
