By Adam Baskin: Shakur Stevenson says he’s ready to challenge Devin Haney for his four lightweight belts if willing to fight him.
Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) heard Haney talking bold the other day, saying he will stay at 135 to fight him.
Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) hasn’t stated who his next opponent will be if he’s successful in his title defense against Vasyl Lomachenko on May 20th, but Shakur is hoping it’s him.
It’s assumed by many boxing fans that Haney will attempt to line up a fight against the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Ryan Garcia winner, but that might not happen. The chances of those two taking an immediate rematch are high, so they’re not going to want to take a more minor money fight against Haney, even though it would allow them to try and capture all the titles at 135.
As Ryan Garcia has said, ‘Belts don’t matter‘ with this generation. Fans are more interested in personalities, entertaining fighters, and whoever has the more enormous followers on social media. Boxing has changed dramatically, and world titles only matter nowadays for fighters that aren’t popular on social media.
Right or wrong, the fans follow the herd, and clearly, Ryan and Tank Davis have a more significant number of followers on social media than Haney, so he’ll likely not get a shot against the winner of their fight on April 22nd.
If Haney can’t get the Tank-Ryan winner, he’ll have no choice but to fight Shakur Stevenson if he wants the match-up that will create the most interest in the boxing world.
There isn’t anyone else that will be available for Haney to make the most noise until Gervonta or Ryan are free to face him, and that might not be until next year.
The question is, does Haney feel up to the task of fighting Stevenson? If so, it’s a no-brainer for him to make that fight next if he conclusively defeats Lomachenko on May 20th.
Apart from fighting Stevenson, Haney’s only options are if he’s willing to move up to 140, 147, or 154 and fight opposition his size for a change instead of being a weight bully.
Good options for Haney if he’s ready to test himself against fighters his size:
- Regis Prograis
- Teofimo Lopez
- Jose Ramirez
- Gary Antuanne Russell
- Arnold Barboza Jr
- Subriel Matias
- Errol Spence Jr
- Terence Crawford
- Jermell Charlo
- Tim Tszyu
- Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
- Conor Benn
- Roiman Villa
- Vergil Ortiz
- Eimantas Stanionis
Will Devin Haney fight Shakur Stevenson?
“I think they wanted to see me flatline him, but I wanted to see myself flatling him, but we didn’t get the chance. We dropped him a couple of times, though,” said Shakur Stevenson to Top Rank Boxing about his sixth-round TKO win over Shuichiro Yoshino last Saturday night in their WBO lightweight title eliminator.
“I just caught my second wind. My second wind came, and I was about to start putting some heat on his a**,” Shakur said about his stoppage of the game but limited Yoshino.
“It was a cool stoppage. It wasn’t too bad because after two or three more punches, he was going out. I really had my mind set up, and I was lining him up. The ref did what he was supposed to do, protecting the fighter from himself, so he did a good job.
“It felt great. I saw the crowd [at the Prudential Center in Newark] was lit, and I was lit. It felt like a party; it felt like a celebration. I enjoyed every moment, from the walkout to getting in the ring to seeing my crowd cheer out for me. It was definitely fun.
“Any of the guys can get it. Anyone that came to my training camp and saw what was going on, they all knew what to expect. We put the work in, and it showed up.
“Any of these guys can get it. That’s how I look at it. If Devin want to talk like he want to fight me, then let’s do it. I don’t duck no smoke, especially when a champion says, ‘I’ll give you an opportunity.’ I love it,” said Stevenson.
Shakur ready to face the best
“I seen him against other guys, but I never seen him look like that,” Stevenson said about Yoshino. “They can say whatever they want, but I made him look like that. I landed cleanly, I put him down, and I beat him up.
“It wasn’t that he’s that bad. It’s that I’m that good. I knew what was going on. I’m not stupid. I’m not going to let the media or anybody trick me that it was just a bum in there, and that’s what happened. It wasn’t that. It was the fact that I’m that good.
“I promise you; step the level up, and you’ll see that I’m really that good. I done that against [Oscar] Valdez too,” said Stevenson about him going out to the center of the ring to wait for his opponent before the round started. “I just started; this is something new. I like to let people know that I’m here.
“I was a lot more motivated for this fight. I think that just coming into the [135-lb] division, you want to make a statement. Everybody was looking to see if you made a statement. If I went in there and looked bad, they’d be talking the most stuff, but I went in there and did what I was supposed to do.
“So now you’re going to hear people say, ‘He was supposed to do that, and all this stuff, but truth be told, if you up the level for me, I’m going to stand on ten toes for anybody.
“Then they say, ‘He ain’t got no power,’ and they on their butt. I don’t want to hear what anybody got to say. You can say whatever you want, but I know what’s real. I know what the truth is. It’s all about what my truth is. I don’t believe what the media say or what the critics say.
“Just keep paying attention to me, and I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. Like I said and I’m going to keep telling y’all. Up the level and I’m going to be ready for them every time. Trust me,” said Shakur.
