Shakur Stevenson is one of the top talents in the sport, something he is willing to prove against all but one of the fighters in his current division.
After conquering feather and super-featherweight, the 27-year-old from Newark is current WBC Lightweight World Champion having won the vacant belt against Edwin De Los Santos after Devin Haney relinquished it.
Along with most fans and analysts, Stevenson is a big believer in his ability and has told fans he is ‘the best boxer on the planet.’
To prove it, he wants to face the likes of Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Devin Haney et al, but there’s one lightweight contender that’s a no go.
Speaking to FightHype about a potential boxing ‘super league’, Stevenson pointed out that he wouldn’t face friend Keyshawn Davis.
“Here’s the thing. I already told y’all, there’s only one person I wouldn’t fight, but I’m down with fighting anybody so I wouldn’t mind getting in some s**t like that if it make sense.
But if it’s me and Keyshawn in there I wouldn’t wanna do that s**t.”
The two Olympic Silver Medalists have long been close inside and outside the gym. Whilst the spars and the work will be competitive, they have drawn the line at fighting it out in the pro ranks. On the relationship, Davis said Shakur was ‘like a brother.’
“Like a brother, for real. Literally like a brother. It’s deeper than boxing. We’ll never fight each other.
His family is my family … It’s just gonna be like that.”
Davis is 10-0 with seven early finishes, turning pro four years later than Stevenson. It just may work out that when he gets to challenging for the 135lbs belts, Shakur is considering his fourth move up in weight.
In the meantime, the WBC Champion defends his belt this weekend against Artem Harutyunyan.
