Teofimo Lopez has given an honest assessment of Shakur Stevenson‘s most recent performance.
Stevenson successfully defended his WBC lightweight title with a ninth round stoppage victory over Britain’s Josh Padley on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev’s highly anticipated rematch.
The 27-year-old from Newark, New Jersey was originally pencilled in to face highly-rated American prospect Floyd Schofield before the 22-year-old was forced to pull out of the contest after coming down with an illness during fight week.
In the immediate aftermath of Stevenson’s victory against Padley, WBO super lightweight champion Lopez spoke to Seconds Out and summed up the 27-year-old’s performance, where he admits he would now like to see Stevenson face lightweight rival Gervonta Davis.
“Well Shakur, listen, the guy’s been out for how long, like what almost a year or so? Hand injuries and stuff, but nevertheless listen it’s boxing.
“I think that we should see those two guys [Shakur and Tank] face off already. I mean unify at 135 and see the best man win.”
‘Tank’ Davis – who did not give a favourable review on the fight – returns to the ring on March 1 as he defends his WBA lightweight title against Lamont Roach Jr at the Barclays Center in New York City. The 30-year-old from Baltimore, Maryland has been on a collision course with Stevenson for quite some time now, with many fans and pundits expressing their interest in a seeing a lightweight unification between the pair take place at the earliest opportunity.
