By Sean Jones: Bob Arum states that the plan is for Shakur Stevenson to challenge the winner of the May 20th fight between undisputed lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson and Vasyl Lomachenko.
Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) needs to successfully defeat unbeaten, highly ranked 135-lb contender Shuichiro Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs) in their fight on ESPN at the Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
If Shakur wins that fight, he’ll face the Haney vs. Lomachenko winner. However, Arum says Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) may choose to vacate his four lightweight titles if he successfully beats Lomachenko on May 20th.
If Haney vacates to go up to 140, Arum says Lomachenko and Shakur will fight for one of the vacated 135-lb belts. It would look bad on Haney’s part if he vacates without fighting the Stevenson-Lomachenko winner, but he’s outgrown the division and needs to move up to 140.
You can argue that the only reason Haney is staying at 135 for the Lomachenko fight is that he’s so much bigger than him and a lot younger.
“The Japanese boy is a tremendous puncher; he’s undefeated, and the guy that we work with in Japan thinks he’s extraordinarily talented,” said Bob Arum to iD Boxing about Shakur Stevenson’s opponent Shuichiro Yoshino for April 8th.
“You know what we think about Shakur and that he’s on the pound-for-pound list as one of the great fighters today. So if Shakur beats the Japanese, and it’s going to be a tough fight, then are plan would be to match Shakur against the winner of Haney-Lomachenko. That’s another massive fight.
“Yeah, the plan is to have him fight the Haney-Loma winner,” Arum said about Stevenson. “If Haney wins, he’s talking about going to 140. So that makes a vacant title for Shakur. But if Loma wins, that’s a fight between Loma and Shakur that I would pay all kinds of money to watch. That’s really an unbelievable fight.
“Two really great students and artists in the game of boxing,” said Arum about Lomachenko and Stevenson.
“The date is May 20th. The question is where we put it, and hopefully, we’ll decide that by the end of the week and have an announcement next week,” Arum said about the Haney vs. Lomachenko fight.
“That fight is on, and it’s going to happen. The question is what the venue is going to be. Win or lose, Haney is a terrific fighter, and we can continue to give him maximum exposure on the ESPN platform,” said Arum