Shakur Stevenson is often championed for his willingness to take on all comers, but there is one fighter that the 28-year-old has declared he will not face. Now, the newly crowned WBO super-lightweight champion may be ordered to take on that man.
Stevenson jumped up to super-lightweight and dethroned Teofimo Lopez to get his hands on the WBO super-lightweight crown and become the third-youngest four-division world champion in boxing history.
The WBC has since decided to strip Stevenson of their lightweight world title, a move which has left the Newark southpaw pondering whether he should return to 135lbs without a belt, remain at 140lbs and defend his new title, or move up once again and compete at welterweight.
Meanwhile, on Stevenson’s undercard, his good friend and former WBO lightweight ruler Keyshawn Davis announced himself as a threat to the super-lightweight throne, defeating Jamaine Ortiz in the co-main event of the bill.
As a result, Davis has been installed as the WBO’s number one contender in the division, as anticipated by Stevenson, who planned on allowing Davis to fight for the belt after his vacation and return to lightweight.
Yet, the WBC’s decision has disrupted this idea and opened the door to a scenario where Stevenson may be ordered to defend his new title against the fighter one whom he previously declared he would not fight, unless he is offered $500m.
“I get how you might feel when you don’t understand someone’s relationship with somebody, but this is my brother, my right-hand man. Why am I putting on a show in front of y’all, why am I fighting my brother in front of the world, that could f**k up our relationship because at the end of day I am competitive as f**k, he’s competitive as f**k and there has got to be a winner and a loser.
“I don’t plan on letting n***as beat me, I don’t care who it is. So, at the end of the day, that would come in-between me and his relationship, I don’t give a f**k how anybody else feels about it.
“Unless mother****as giving us $500m or some crazy s**t that is going to feed our families for the entire rest of our lives and the generations that come after that, then I don’t give a f**k [about fighting Keyshawn], it is what it is.”
Thankfully for Stevenson, time is on his side, as the WBO are unlikely to order that contest in the immediate future and Davis is not expected to stick around at 140lbs long enough to become mandated.
Instead, it is believed that Davis will move up to welterweight, after calling for a showdown with WBO welterweight champion Devin Haney during the immediate aftermath of his victory over Ortiz.
