Shakur Stevenson has been linked to a showdown with Gervonta Davis throughout his career but now the Newark southpaw has predicted how his rival would fare against one of the greats of the sport in Oscar De La Hoya.
Stevenson and Davis each held world titles in the lightweight division as recently as February, but Stevenson was then stripped of his WBC crown due to unpaid sanctioning fees and ‘Tank’ was recently demoted to the WBA’s ‘champion-in-recess’ because of prolonged inactivity.
Any hope of seeing the fight is now beginning to dwindle, with Stevenson having signed with Zuffa Boxing, whilst Davis is expected to remain sidelined until early 2027, meaning if the pair are to ever fight, it is unlikely to be anytime soon.
Despite that, Stevenson still clearly holds his rival in high regard, as when discussing hypothetical encounters in an interview with Daily Mail Sport, he picked the Baltimore-born knockout artist to trump a prime De La Hoya, who is one of just two fighters in boxing history to have ruled in six divisions.
De La Hoya fought as a lightweight for just over a year-and-a-half and is better known for his reign as welterweight champion, where he overcame the likes of Pernell Whittaker, Héctor Camacho and Julio César Chávez.
Although, whilst Stevenson also picked Davis to overcome stars such as Vasyl Lomachenko and ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley, he felt as though a meeting with pound-for-pound sensation Terence Crawford would prove to be a step too far for the undefeated three-division conqueror.
