Bradley says Stevenson still needs time to physically adjust before facing Haney at welterweight
Timothy Bradley believes Shakur Stevenson should wait before moving up to face Devin Haney at welterweight. Bradley said Stevenson still needs time to physically develop for 147 pounds before taking on a naturally bigger fighter like Haney.
Rumors about a possible Stevenson-Haney fight have continued circulating after Stevenson’s dominant win over Teofimo Lopez earlier this year, but Bradley says the timing is wrong physically for Shakur right now.
Bradley argued that Stevenson still needs time to mature into the weight before facing a naturally bigger fighter like Haney at 147 pounds.
“The fight shouldn’t happen. The weight’s going to be an issue. Let’s just say hypothetically they meet at 144. Let’s say Shakur beats him. Let’s say that Haney didn’t look good. You think Shakur going to get the credit? No. He don’t get the credit,” said Bradley to Fighthype, saying the Haney vs. Shakur fight shouldn’t happen right now.
“You weight-drained him just like Tank did with Ryan Garcia. There’s an asterisk right next to that. If you’re not going to go to 147, don’t even mess around with Haney. That’s what I would tell Shakur,” Bradley said during an interview with Will Lowery.
Bradley added that Stevenson’s frame still needs development before competing against full-sized welterweights and pointed toward Haney’s strength advantages at the weight.
“His muscles are not mature like that,” said Tim about Shakur. “At 147, those punches, they different than 140. They different than 135, and 130 and 126. At 147, the punches hurt. Shakur needs to take his time, build his body up, get to 147, then face him.
“These guys are still in their 20s, and it’ll probably take him about six months to a year to get right and build his body up,” Bradley said.
Bradley also said he would currently favor Haney if the fight happened immediately at welterweight because of Haney’s size, experience at higher weights, and familiarity with Stevenson’s style.
The Hall of Famer believes Stevenson could eventually become the favorite, but only after allowing his body enough time to fully adjust to another weight jump.
