By Craig Page: Shakur Stevenson is calling for a lightweight tournament to decide who is the #1 fighter in the weight class. Here’s the thing. Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) wants all the fighters that compete in the tournament to be paid “a lot of money for each fight.”
In an ideal world, a lightweight tournament would be an excellent idea to decide the true #1 in the 135-lb division. If the promoters and networks didn’t block the idea, we could have these fighters taking part in the tournament:
- Shakur Stevenson
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
- Ryan Garcia
- Isaac Cruz
- Michel Rivera
- Jamaine Ortiz
- William Zepeda
Given how Tank Davis has struggled against fighters like Isaac Cruz, Leo Santa Cruz, and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, he’ll likely be beaten in the lightweight tournament.
Unfortunately, the Mayweather-promoted Tank’s boxing skills aren’t good enough for him to win the tournament against the likes of Shakur & Lomachenko.
The reality is that the promoters and the networks won’t be on board with this idea because they won’t want to share the fighters with other platforms.
They should do a 135 tournament like the super six but pay us a a lot of money for each fight.. That would be fire 🔥
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) October 19, 2022
Additionally, the promoters aren’t going to want to see their fighter’s careers potentially ruined by them getting beaten & exposed. You can imagine what would happen to a fighter like Ryan Garcia in a 135-lb tournament.
He would be repeatedly beaten, and his career would be in tatters by the end of the tournament. Even if it were a single elimination tournament, it’s doubtful that the promoters & networks would be on board with this idea.
Stevenson, 25, will likely get his chance to fight undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney or perhaps Vasyl Lomachenko for all the belts soon enough.
Regardless of whether Haney flees the 135-lb division to move up to 140 to avoid losses to Lomachenko & Shakur, we’ll see Stevenson get his shot at the top spot soon.
Ultimately, the #1 spot in the lightweight division will come down to a fight between Lomachenko and Shakur Stevenson, as Haney is either going to get picked off immediately in his next fight, probably against Loma, or he’s going to vacate his four titles and move up to 140 to avoid getting beaten.
A big tournament that includes the best at lightweight would eat up a lot of time if they did it right, and that would be a problem for fighters that are outgrowing the division like Haney. He can’t continue to make weight for long.
