A newly-crowned world champion appears to have made a u-turn on a potential fight against Shakur Stevenson.
Stevenson is the reigning WBC lightweight champion, having held the coveted ‘green and gold’ belt since the end of 2023. The 27-year-old from New Jersey is often regarded as one of, if not the best active lightweight on the planet.
Stevenson has already captured world titles at featherweight and super featherweight, defeating the likes of Jamel Herring, Oscar Valdez and Robson Conceição during his tenure. The American has received some criticism throughout his career however, with a number of fellow fighters claiming his fighting style is ‘boring’.
One fighter who appears to now be in contention for a showdown against the 27-year-old is Keyshawn Davis, who recently dethroned former WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk. The 25-year-old from Norfolk, Virginia defeated the Ukrainian to claim the first world title of his career, achieving this feat in just his 14th professional contest.
The two are notoriously close and Davis has always stated he would ‘never’ face his lightweight rival.
“And this question is really starting to get sickening, honestly, because I keep telling y’all the same s**t. But we knew this day was gonna come. We all knew that everybody was gonna want us to fight because we knew how great we are. But no, we’re never gonna fight, so y’all can just stop asking us that question”
Despite Stevenson feeling the same way, he recently said in an interview when pushed that he would look at an offer. Davis then responded quickly saying the same.
“Send the offer then.”
Shortly after his impressive fourth round stoppage victory over Berinchyk, ‘The Businessman’ also made a sensational call-out to WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, as the 25-year-old sets his sights on the biggest fights possible.
Stevenson returns to the ring against Britain’s Josh Padley on February 22 in Riyadh, after his fight against Floyd ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield fell through at the last minute. The 27-year-old has sent a barrage of defamatory messages to Schofield across his social media pages, calling the 22-year-old from New Jersey a ‘clown’.
