By Sean Jones: Shakur Stevenson is looking past his next opponent Jeremiah Nakathila towards a bigger potential fight against Emanuel Navarrete (33-1, 28 KOs) if he vacates his WBO featherweight title to move up to 130 to face him.
Shakur is interested in fighting the 26-year-old Navarrete, but ONLY after he defeats Nakathila and then WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring first.
So, in other words, Stevenson has two more fights before he would be potentially looking to defend the WBO 130-lb belt against Navarrete if he decides to move up to super featherweight.
Stevenson will have his hands full trying to beat Nakathila on June 12th because that guy is a much bigger puncher than him.
Shakur two hurdles ahead of him
Assuming Stevenson does beat the 31-year-old Nakathila, he’ll still need to defeat WBO 130-lb champion Herring (23-2, 11 KOs), and it’s unknown if he can.
Herring, 35, is interested in facing WBC 130-lb champion Oscar Valdez next, but he may need to vacate his WBO belt for him to do that.
The World Boxing Organization wants Herring to defend his belt against Stevenson next, provided that he beats Nakathilia on June 12th.
If Herring chooses not to fight Stevenson, he’ll lose his WBO title, and the belt will go to Shakur.
Stevenson (15-0, 8 KOs0 is fighting #2 WBO Jeremiah Nakathila (21-1, 17 KOs) on June 12th for the interim WBO super featherweight title in the main event on ESPN from the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Former WBO 126-lb champion Stevenson, 23, watched Navarrete’s title defense of his WBC featherweight belt last Saturday against Christopher Diaz (26-3, 16 KOs) and apparently taking notes on his game for their match at the Silver Spurs Arena, Kissimmee, Florida.
During the fight, Stevenson recommended that Diaz take the action to the inside to avoid the crazy looping punches that Navarrete was throwing the entire contest.
Ultimately, Diaz did the opposite, saying at medium to long-range, which left him easy prey for the looping shots that Navarrete was throwing at him.
After dropping Diaz four times in the fight, Navarrete finally stopped him in the 12th when his corner had the bout waved off.
Shakur Stevenson wants Emanuel Navarrete
“I would love that fight,” said Shakur on his Twitter when asked if he’d be interested in fighting Navarrete. “Hmmm, I learned something bout Navarrete.
“If he vacates [126-lb strap], I’m fighting for the [interim WBO super featherweight] title on June 12th, but honestly, if he [Navarrete] comes up, I wouldn’t mind him being my first challenger for my belt,” said Stevenson.
Respect Pitufo u put it all on the line, Great performance Navarrate.. I can’t wait for him to come up to 130 he don’t strike me as a duck like these other fighters ‼️‼️
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) April 25, 2021
It seems like it would be more in Navarrete’s interest to go up to 130 to challenge the #1 fighter Oscar Valdez for his WBC super featherweight belt rather than the less popular finesse fighter Shakur.
From Navarrete’s perspective, he might be thinking that he would be able to negotiate a better deal with WBC champion Valdez if he first grabs the WBO title before going into negotiations with him.
Navarrete will need to have a good idea of whether he has the talent to beat Stevenson or not before taking that fight because he could be asking for trouble if he faces him.
If Navarrete cannot land a fight at 126 against Rey Vargas, Gary Russell Jr, or Leo Santa Cruz, he’ll likely move up to 130 to chase a payday against Stevenson.
The chances of Navarrete getting a fight against Russell, Santa Cruz, and Vargas are likely nonexistent.