Will The Champion Speak Out? Shakur’s Frustration Could Steal The Show At Doubleheader Press Conference Today?

The promotion of the Edgar Berlanga vs. Hamzah Sheeraz and Shakur Stevenson vs. William Zepeda Doubleheader begins today in a press conference at 1 pm ET at the Palladium in New York City to discuss their July 12th event. The card will be staged outdoors at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

Turki Alalshikh has chosen another unique setting for one of his cards, but this one will allow regular fans to attend. That’s the difference from last month’s event at Times Square, which had an exclusive, wealthy country-club-ish feel, designed for the upper crust.

The Louis Armstrong Stadium seats 14,053 fans, so it will need extensive promotion to attract a large enough audience to sell out.

Will Stevenson Vent His Anger Today?

WBC lightweight champion Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) will have a chance to vent his frustration about receiving second billing in front of the media. He’s expressed anger about being placed on the undercard of Berlanga’s fight against Sheeraz.

It’ll be interesting if Stevenson chooses to go on a rant. Many fans believe he should be in the main event. He’s a world champion and has done a lot more with his career than Berlanga or Sheeraz. Shakur could turn the press conference into a therapy session where he unloads his grief, spilling it out to the media.

The press conference could use theatrics with Stevenson complaining. I doubt he will. It’s too bad Zepeda doesn’t speak English. That’s a problem that his last opponent, Tevin Farmer, had in trying to promote their two fights. He couldn’t trash-talk him to get him to respond because he couldn’t speak English. Stevenson isn’t really all that good at slamming his opponents, and trying to anger them.. His expertise is bragging.

Berlanga’s Role in Promotion

Berlanga’s opponent,  Sheeraz (21-0-1, 17 KOs), isn’t well known to U.S fans, and he’s not much of a trash talker. So, it will be up to Berlanga to get fans amped up about this fight. With Edgar being the main guy, it’s his responsibility to try to sell the event