Shakur Stevenson’s reputation as arguably the sport’s most skilful fighter has been challenged by a former world champion, who insists he’s “the best in boxing”.
In a conversation involving all active fighters, many would consider Stevenson, along with Oleksandr Usyk and Naoya Inoue, as one of the most complete technicians.
This is largely based on his dominant points victory over Teofimo Lopez last month, when the 28-year-old dropped just one round before becoming a four-division world champion.
As a result, the WBO super-lightweight champion has consolidated his status as a top five pound-for-pound star, among the likes of Usyk, Inoue, Dmitry Bivol and Jesse Rodriguez.
With Usyk and Inoue having become two-weight undisputed champions, though, it is difficult to argue with them being placed above Stevenson, who is yet to unify all four major titles in any division.
But while it is widely accepted that these three fighters are the ‘best in boxing’, former WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis ultimately believes the honour of being number one should belong to himself.
The unbeaten 26-year-old claimed his world title by engineering a fourth-round finish to dethrone Denys Berinchyk in February 2025, with his latest victory coming against Jamaine Ortiz, via a 12th-round stoppage at 140lbs, last month.
More recently, Davis was asked in an interview with Come And Talk 2 Me whether he could compete with Stevenson on a skill-for-skill level, to which he gave a rather surprising response.
“I think I’m the best in boxing.”
Given their friendship, ‘The Businessman’ and Stevenson are unlikely to meet in the ring anytime soon but, either way, only time will tell as to whether there is any truth to Davis’ belief.
