Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson have the ingredients for an all-American, all-undefeated unification fight in one of the hottest divisions in the sport.
When Devin Haney moved up to 140 and vacated his four lightweight belts, both men benefited. Davis was upgraded from WBA Regular Champion to to full champ, and Stevenson fought for and won the vacant WBC belt against Edwin De Los Santos.
‘Tank’ Davis recently returned to the ring for his maiden defence of the title, an eighth round knockout of previously-undefeated Frank Martin. Stevenson looks to retain his against former Martin opponent Artem Harutyunyan next month.
Fans want the pair to go toe-to-toe after that, but three-weight world champion and Hall of Famer James Toney told Fight Hub TV that wouldn’t be a smart move on Shakur’s part.
“Good fight. Shakur Stevenson’s a good fighter, but Shakur Stevenson ain’t ready for that. Everybody in boxing, you so-called experts, y’all don’t know s**t about boxing.
Shakur’s a young fighter. Let him develop and then when it’s time you make a move. But now, Tank got that momentum. It’s bad for Shakur. He’ll ruin his whole career like [Crawford did to] Errol Spence Jr.”
Stevenson looks set to miss out on the big-money fight for now anyway with IBF Champion Vasiliy Lomachenko reportedly ready to enter talks to face Davis instead.
Should both keep winning and stick around at the weight, they have assured fans a fight will be made in due course.
