The lightweight division is one of the most exciting in the sport just now topped with four champions – Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson, Vasily Lomachenko and Denys Berinchyk. Paulie Malignaggi believes there is a clear standout.
When Devin Haney moved up to 140 and vacated all four belts, the fighters above picked them up in various fashion.
‘Tank’ Davis was elevated and then defended against Frank Martin with an emphatic knockout, Lomachenko became the first man to stop George Kambosos Jr, his countryman Berinchyk beat Emanuel Navarrete and Stevenson did the same against Edwin De Los Santos.
In the exciting division, Malignaggi said Stevenson was the best of the bunch before his first defence this weekend against Artem Harutyunyan.
The best lightweight in the world fights tonight…
Winners in all sports don't tend to have the most exciting styles of play, Shakur has created a formula & no one has an answer. https://t.co/cZQX7Mo9le— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) July 6, 2024
Malignaggi stuck to his guns post-fight.
“For me, I feel that Shakur Stevenson is the best fighter. Of course Tank Davis is more exciting, Lomachenko was exciting when he was more in his prime as well, I understand that, but you still gotta want to see who the best is.”
The former champion turned analyst responded to the criticism Stevenson was receiving – for the second fight in a row – around his entertainment value.
“For all you people that say ‘I don’t care for him, he bores me,’ okay, you should want to see somebody take him on and beat him. The guy barely loses a round. He tries to make it exciting as he can. He’s not a big puncher, not lights out puncher, he’s very effective. This is called boxing it’s not called knockout. It’s hit and don’t get hit. The best athletes and teams in history are always defence first.”
