By Matt Lieberman: Shakur Stevenson is warning Vasily Lomachenko not to come down to 130 because he’d shut him out entirely and beat him worse than Teofimo Lopez did last October.
It’s going to be difficult for Stevenson to outdo what Teofimo did in beating the former three-division world champion Lomachenko, as he did a fine job of outboxing the talented champion. Lopez beat Lomachenko by the scores 116-112, 119-109, and 117-111.
Stevenson, 23, advises the former three-division world champion Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) to stay where he’s at in the 135-lb division and not come down to his territory at 130.
Shakur says he’ll dominate Lomachenko
Stevenson (14-0, 8 KOs) says the super featherweight division is his now, and he’ll be looking to beat the #1 guy WBC champion Miguel Berchelt in 2021 after he defeats Toka Kahn Clary this Saturday night.
The former WBO featherweight champ Stevenson and the 28-year-old Kahn Clary will be fighting this Saturday, December 12th in ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight will be televised on ESPN with the start time at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Stevenson, 23, and the two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko are both promoted by Top Rank, making it an easy fight to make.
“I feel like if me and Lomachenko fight, I think I’d beat him worse than Teofimo,” said Shakur Stevenson. “And not saying anything against Teofimo, he put in a dominant performance. I just feel like I’d win every round. It’d be hard for him to win any rounds.”
“He’s coming off a loss, and I don’t think it’d be too wise of him to call out for me or try to come in my weight class and say just because he was too small for 135, he lost to Teofimo,” Shakur said about Lomachenko.
Stevenson isn’t a world champion at the moment, as he just moved up in weight to 130 last June in stopping Felix Caraballo in the sixth round. This Saturday will be Stevenson’s son fight in the super-featherweight division.
Shakur with big plans in 2021
Stevenson’s plans for 2021 is to take on the winner of the clash between WBO 130-lb champion Jamel Herring and Carl Frampton, both of which are also promoted by Top Rank.
If Stevenson beats the Herring-Frampton winner, he’ll take on WBC super-featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt in a unification match in 2021. Stevenson says Berchelt (37-1, 33 KOs) is the “top dog” in the 130-lb division, and he’s looking forward to unseating him.
Assuming Shakur defeats Berchelt, 29, he’ll then potentially defend his WBC/WBO 130lb titles against two-time Olympian and former WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez (28-0, 22 KOs).
“I don’t think that’d be too smart. 130 is my weight class, and I just feel like if he comes down here, he’s going to get something that he doesn’t want,” Stevenson continued in discussing Lomachenko.
“He shouldn’t do that. I’m going to give him a fair warning that he shouldn’t do that.”
Stevenson can’t take his eyes off Kahn Clary (28-2, 19 KOs) this Saturday because he’s a talented fighter, and he’s not someone that he can afford to overlook.
Boxing fans will be able to watch Shakur and Kahn Clary battle it out on ESPN. The undercard is loaded with talent with the following great fights:
- Super middleweight contender Edger Berlanga (15-0, 15 KOs) is looking to keep his perfect record of first-round knockouts intact against Ulises Sierra.
- Two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez (5-1, 3 KOs) facing Brandon Valdes (13-1, 7 KOs).
- Lightweight Felix Verdejo battling Masayoshi Nakatani.
- Middleweight Clay Collard facing Quincy LaVallais
- Light welterweight knockout artist Elvis Rodriguez taking on Lawrence James Fryers