During a heated exchange, Shakur Stevenson accused Shannon Sharpe of being “ignorant” when discussing boxing, arguing that Sharpe only repeats praise from respected boxing voices but dismisses any criticism as coming from someone who isn’t a real student of the sport. Stevenson pointed specifically to Sharpe calling his fighting style “boring,” and cited Sharpe’s comments favoring his Tiafoe fight over the Williams-Zepeda bout as proof Sharpe hadn’t properly watched or analyzed his fights.

Sharpe pushed back, insisting he’s entitled to a stylistic opinion just as fans debate preferences in other sports (he drew a comparison to friends debating Messi versus Ronaldo without calling each other ignorant). He also took a jab at Stevenson’s lack of a college education, prompting Stevenson to counter that plenty of people without formal schooling understand their craft better than “book smart” critics.

The two went back and forth about whether having an opinion — even an unfavorable one — is different from being uninformed, with Stevenson repeatedly drawing a line between disliking his personality versus critiquing his boxing IQ.