An unbeaten world champion has backed himself to prevail against a prime version of Manny Pacquiao.
The Filipino great remains the only fighter in boxing history to win world titles across eight divisions in a professional career that initially spanned between 1995 and 2021.
He has picked up a number of legacy defining wins throughout the course of his tenure, defeating a number of generational greats such as Oscar De La Hoya, Erik Morales, Miguel Cotto and Marco Antonio Barrera amongst others.
It was announced at the end of last month that ‘Pac-Man’ would be making a sensational return to boxing after a four year hiatus, as he prepares to face reigning WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios on Saturday July 19 in Las Vegas.
In an interview with the Say Cheese channel, unbeaten WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson claimed he would have ‘smoked’ a prime version of Pacquiao, but admitted he has respect for the Filipino great.
“I think I would smoke Pacquiao. Yeah I think so. I like Pacquiao but like I was gonna make sure he took them tests, I wasn’t gonna fight him without making sure he was like doing the tests and everything was like straight fire, no cheating or nothing.”
Stevenson is unbeaten as a professional, winning all 23 of his professional bouts since making his debut back in 2017 after picking up an Olympic Silver Medal in the Rio De Janeiro games a year earlier.
The 27-year-old from Newark, New Jersey is set to make the next defence of his title on Saturday July 12 against Mexico’s WBC interim lightweight champion William Zepeda who is also unbeaten as a professional.
