IN HIS MORE than 50 years of boxing promotion, Bob Arum has relied on creative gimmicks, embellished back stories and exaggerated animosity to boost ticket sales and viewership.

When it comes to Saturday’s featherweight title clash between 2016 U.S. Olympic silver-medalist Shakur Stevenson and unbeaten Southern Californian Joet Gonzalez (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+), Arum needs none of that.

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“I’ve seen some crazy things over the years, but the Romeo-and-Juliet thing in this fight is really resonating,” Arum, the CEO and founder of Top Rank, said.

It’s the rarest of fight dramas. Stevenson is dating Gonzalez’s 22-year-old sister, Jajaira, an aspiring 2020 U.S. Olympic boxer who trains beside her boyfriend in Colorado Springs. Gonzalez fumes over the relationship, chafed that his flesh and blood has divided her loyalty and provoked an unwanted family disruption to his years-long pursuit of becoming a world champion.

Gonzalez (23-0, 14 KOs) says he hasn’t spoken to his sister in six months, indicating the strain with Stevenson also exists with their trainer-father, Jose Gonzalez, and the siblings’ boxer brother, Jousce.

“It’s honestly on her and we’ll see what happens. There’s things with Shakur – things he’s said and done – that I can’t forgive right now,” Joet Gonzalez, 26, said, pointing to comments aimed at him by Stevenson in Twitter direct messages that Gonzalez refuses to repeat because of the harshness.

“I’ve stayed quiet as he’s brought up my family and said some things. In the press conference he called me a bitch onstage, he’s called my family racists … there’s nothing (racial) at all (about the dislike). I just feel he can’t accept the fact I don’t like him.”

Gonzalez says his dislike of Stevenson has nothing to do with the WBO 126-pound belt on the line this weekend and everything to do with being a protective big brother.

“I think my sister is in love and I don’t think Shakur is,” Gonzalez said. “I know how my sister is, and I know what she wants, and I think she’s just stuck. Shakur might have some warm feelings and appreciation for her being there, but I don’t think it’s love. He’s her first boyfriend. So she doesn’t want to get heartbroken and feel (cast aside). But that’s life.”

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Stevenson has surrounded himself with some good people, Gonzalez said, to help lead him down the right path, such as Andre Ward. But Stevenson’s track record isn’t necessarily the greatest. Videos surfaced earlier this year of him striking a man and woman in Miami Beach, something that would catch the eye of anyone, but especially the brother of someone dating the alleged attacker.

Stevenson, when asked about the rift with his girlfriend’s family, declined to elaborate on the situation. After all, the biggest fight of his life is just days away.

“Everybody is making this fight about that, but I think this fight is about me winning the title. My focus is on becoming a world champion,” he said. “I’ve learned how to block everything out and stay focused. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on outside the ring. All fighters go through that stuff. I’ve learned how to remain in control and not think about it.”

Jajaira Gonzalez has been vocal on social media about the family divide. She recently referenced support of her boyfriend rather than her sibling.

Just a heads up, he’s lying!!!!!! He hasn’t been supporting me like he says he has. My own blood brother cut me off 3 years ago!!! Stop lying to the media.

— Jajaira Gonzalez (@JajairaGonzalez) October 3, 2019

BEFORE THE GONZALEZ family can make plans for their Thanksgiving dinner, Joet and Stevenson will settle the score in the ESPN-televised main event from Reno, Nev. on Saturday. Stevenson (12-0, 7 KOs) seeks to become the first 2016 Olympian to become a world champion, fighting for the belt vacated by unbeaten former champion Oscar Valdez, who moved to super featherweight.

“Shakur is the typical agent provocateur. He loves to stir things up,” Arum said Monday from the World Boxing Council Convention in Cancun, Mexico, where he can afford to kick his heels up knowing this bout is promoting itself. “We have two undefeated young fighters elevating to their prime, and the rest of it … crazy. It’s boxing.”

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The title bout this weekend carries heavy implications for the future of the sport. Stevenson was ranked No. 4 by The Athletic in this summer’s list of the 25 most intriguing fighters aged 25 and younger. His opponent, Gonzalez, wasn’t far behind at No. 15.

“I’m happy Joet’s on the list because it shows this is a good fight that will separate me from being called an up-and-coming fighter,” Stevenson said. “Beating him makes me a world champion.”

The Newark, N.J.-raised fighter predicts he won’t remain a featherweight for long beyond perhaps seeking one more major opponent like former champion Carl Frampton, or another belt-wearer for a unification bout.

Before Stevenson gets there, however, he must first take care of the task at hand against a similarly inspired Gonzalez, whose own Olympic dream was extinguished in a qualifying trial bout before the 2012 Games. Gonzalez has spent the following years plotting to capture the same Saturday prize as Stevenson, but with none of the fanfare saved for the Olympian.

Gonzalez said while there were some amateur fights he lost and cried after, he didn’t shed a tear at his final Olympics elimination.
Gonzalez admitted, though, that he ultimately came to see the benefits that bypassed him. Stevenson used his Olympics achievement to gain the support of former two-division champion Ward, legendary promoter Arum and television network ESPN upon his pro turn.

A similar success story occurred a decade prior just one town over from where Gonzalez trains. Shane Mosley, raised in Pomona, Calif., did not receive much fanfare early in his career despite a heralded record. Oscar De La Hoya, meanwhile, earned the 1992 Olympic gold medal at lightweight and became “The Golden Boy.” Mosley would use that motivation and go on to defeat De La Hoya twice.

Gonzalez — who ironically is now signed by Golden Boy Promotions — said he sees parallels.

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“I never thought those (Olympians) are way better than me,” Gonzalez said. “I always knew I could compete with all of them, including Shakur. I saw him fight a lot because my siblings were at a lot of the same (amateur) shows. To be honest, I didn’t think he was that special. I saw him as very loud, very disrespectful. He got the silver medal and there’s been a lot of hype on him, but I know I’m a better fighter.”

BEFORE STEVENSON’S PROFESSIONAL debut, Jajaira Gonzalez sought to ease her family’s surprise at news the couple was dating by helping to arrange a sparring session between her brother and new boyfriend. Joet says he “got the better of him” in that initial meeting and refused to spar him again in hopes they would one day compete professionally against each other.

Top Rank’s Brad Goodman, Arum’s veteran matchmaker, gives Stevenson the edge in a bout he projects will be highly competitive.

“It’s a very solid fight with two kids obviously taking it very personally. These guys hate each other,” Goodman said. “Joet, I have so much respect for. There’s a lot of things he can do: box, punch, be aggressive, fight inside and outside. He’s a well-rounded fighter who got the proper sparring.

“But I think (Stevenson will) win because we have the better fighter, the more skilled fighter. There’s so much at stake. Both guys will give it their all given the personal stuff at play. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Gonzalez and his veteran manager Frank Espinoza vow the Californian will keep his head once the first bell rings.

“Are there going to be some emotions? Yes,” Espinoza said. “But he won’t let Shakur get into his head. That’s what Shakur wants. Joet knows he can’t let that be a factor.”

If the bout makes it to the late rounds, Gonzalez is confident his endurance will reign supreme. He complements his boxing training with distance running and averaged a 7:06 mile in May’s Orange County Marathon. Gonzalez finished the 26.2 miles in 3:05:55, ranking 30th out of 1,543 participants.

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“When I get my blood pressure and pulse checked the day before the fight, my heart rate is always the lowest among all the fighters. So if it’s going to the long run, I’ll come out on top,” Gonzalez said. “I’m smart in the ring. I’m studying, sizing them up, seeing the speed of their punches, seeing how they react to my movement or how they move after their punches. I’m calculating everything. And then by the time they throw it, I’m ready to counter it. When I see a punch, I’m ready for it.”

Even if he was caught off guard outside the ring by the depth of his sister’s love interest, Gonzalez wants to settle things inside it like grown men.

“(Saturday) is the day Shakur pays for all that. I’ll outwork him, outsmart him, outlast him and straight out beat him,” Gonzalez said. “If he wants to gain my respect, show me that he’s man enough and wants to go toe to toe, it’s a big mistake for him because I’ll put him to sleep.”

(Top photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)