By Allan Fox: Three days after a career-best victory over Oscar Valdez, WBC/WBO super featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson says he’s “down” to fight Vasyl Lomachenko next.
Unfortunately, the former three-division world champion Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) is defending his home country of Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion.
Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) is reportedly stationed in Odessa, which is being shelled by Russia. As such, there’s no telling when Lomachenko will be free to resume his career.
The 34-year-old Lomachenko last fought in December, beating Richard Commey by a 12-round unanimous decision. Unless Lomachenko decides to leave Ukraine while they’re in the middle of a war with Russia, Shakur won’t get a chance to fight him.
Coming back from the war, you can argue that Lomachenko will need at least one if not two, warm-up fights to prepare for a battle against Stevenson.
It might be better for Lomachenko to focus on going after the winner of the undisputed lightweight match between George Kambosos Jr. and Devin Haney instead of putting energy into facing the two-belt defensive artist Stevenson.
Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) wants to become the undisputed champion at 130, but he’s conflicted, also wanting a fight against one of the more prominent names.
The two belts that Stevenson needs to become the undisputed champion at super featherweight are held down by WBA champion Roger Gutierrez and IBF champion Kenichi Ogawa.
“I’m down for a Vasyl Lomachenko fight. I don’t duck no action. I don’t care who it is, I’m going to keep the same energy. I’m down for that type of fight. Truth be told, I’m torn between all the belts and a big fight,” said Shakur Stevenson to DAZN Boxing Show.
If Stevenson wants a big fight in the short term, he should focus on fighting Emmanuel Navarrete next instead of wasting time facing the obscure super featherweight champions Gutierrez and Ogawa.
There would be a lot of interest from boxing fans in a fight between Shakur and Navarrete. It would have a lot more action to it than last Saturday’s match between Stevenson and the 31-year-old Valdez.
That was a disappointing match-up because Valdez looked defeated mentally even before the fight.
When Valdez did attack, he limited his success by coming forward slowly behind a high guard and not attacking in a quick, relentless style that we’d seen from Robeisy Ramirez, the last fighter to defeat Shakur.
Ideally, Stevenson needs to move up to 135 and fight Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis, and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.
