By Adam Baskin: Boxing great Shane Mosley says he sees former two-division world champion Shakur Stevenson as the “best overall” fighter in the lightweight division today.
Mosley feels that the skills that the 2016 Olympic silver medalist Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) places him at the top of the division at 135. However, he still thinks that he’s got to prove that he’s the #1 guy by defeating Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Devin Haney before he can be anointed.
With undisputed lightweight champion Haney about to move up to 140 due to the growth spurt that he’s had in the past year, you can replace him with 2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz as a fighter that Shakur will need to defeat in addition to Tank Davis for him to take the top position as the best lightweight.
Stevenson is trying to force a world title shot by having captured the WBC mandatory position with his sixth round knockout win over Shuichiro Yoshino last month on April 8th in their title eliminator.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants to match Shakur against the winner of the May 20th fight between Haney and Vasily Lomachenko. For that to happen, Lomachenko would probably need to be the one that wins because Haney and his dad Bill want the Tank Davis fight for obvious reasons.
“Shakur does everything really, really good. He gives the Pernell Whitaker vibes. He’s very crafty, good movement, speed and power. He’s fantastic. He does everything [well], and he’s smart and ring IQ, all this stuff, is great, tremendous, and his power is picking up too,” said Shane Mosley to Fighthype about Shakur Stevenson at lightweight,
“It seems to me now that he’s [Shakur] the best overall fighter in the [135-lb] division. I don’t know what he can do with Tank, and I’m not sure what he’s going to do with Devin because Devin is so tall and rangy.
“It could be that old Vernon Forrest-Sugar Shane type of thing. They all have to get together and fight and see who’s the best,” said Mosley.
“I love Tank his approach to the fight and how he comes. He comes strong and kind of reminds me more of myself about the type of fighter that I was. I like Devin Haney how he sits on the outside throwing that jab, right hand, speed and ring IQ.
“It’s going to be a test. I still think Devin wins because he’s younger and has all the natural attributes with his jab, right hand, and different things,” said Shane about next week’s match between undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney and Vasily Lomachenko on May 20th on ESPN PPV.
“At the same time, Loma is a veteran now, and he’s won the gold medal two times in the Olympics. He’s done a lot of things. It could be a tough fight. It’s 50-50. It’s 50-50 if the old Loma shows up or the new Loma shows up,” said Mosley.
