Devin Haney wants Shakur Stevenson to sacrifice to fight for undisputed at 135

Image: Devin Haney wants Shakur Stevenson to sacrifice to fight for undisputed at 135
By Boxing News - 07/05/2023 - Comments

By Robert Segal: Devin Haney made it clear today that for Shakur Stevenson to fight for his undisputed lightweight championship, he will need to make a sacrifice by accepting the 25% deal being offered to him.

Haney & Shakur went back and forth today on Twitter, arguing about the deal for a fight. Devin said, “Sign the contract,” but Shakur then fired back with, “Send a real offer.”

It’s believed that Shakur wants 40-45%, which isn’t going to happen. Haney is likely waiting for Gervonta Davis to see if he’ll agree to fight him. If not, Devin can make good money fighting Vasyl Lomachenko in a rematch or moving up to 140 to challenge the vulnerable WBC champion Regis Prograis.

Why should Haney give Shakur a bigger split? Haney-Stevenson won’t be a monstrous fight on PPV because Shakur isn’t a huge star yet. He probably will be in two to five years, but right now, he’s not on the level of Tank Davis or Ryan Garcia.

Unfortunately, Shakur isn’t in a position where he has anything to offer Haney to get a better percentage split. He’s just the mandatory for Devin’s WBC belt, and that’s not good enough to get the split that he would prefer.

If Stevenson had a title in his possession, he would have a bargaining chip to get the 40 or 45% he wants.

For Shakur to have the opportunity to fight for all four belts before they’re vacated by Haney when he moves up to 140, he will have to sacrifice and bite the bullet this time.

If it pays off, Shakur will capture the undisputed lightweight championship, and he’ll be able to use the belts to lure Gervonta Davis into fighting him or, at the very least, marginalize him due to his holding a worthless secondary belt.

Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) had to sacrifice by taking the smaller cut to fight unified 135-lb champion George Kambosos Jr for his three belts last year in June in Melbourne, Australia, and it paid off by Devin capturing his titles with a one-sided twelve round unanimous decision victory.

In the rematch, Haney once again had to travel to Australia to fight Kambosos Jr, and he beat him a second time. The deal Haney got for his two fights with Kambosos wasn’t ideal, but he took it because he felt the ultimate reward was worth it.

Haney had to give up the money that he would have preferred so that he could fight Kambosos, and now he’s sitting in the position to call the shots at the four-belt undisputed champion at lightweight. Now, it’s Shakur’s turn to take the short money.

Instead of Shakur complaining and dragging his feet, he needs to accept the offer. If Haney is just blowing smoke & not serious about the 25% offer, he’ll move the goalposts to have an excuse for not fighting Shakur. That doesn’t seem like Haney’s style.