Shakur Stevenson is looking to make his mark on the lightweight division in a major way.
The two-division champion has had just one fight at 135lbs – a stoppage victory over previously undefeated Shuichiro Yoshino – and has found himself in a mandatory position already for four-belt holder, Devin Haney.
A dispute on the purse split for the proposed fight makes it look unlikely, as well as the very real threat of Haney vacating and moving up to super-lightweight in an attempt to become two-time undisputed champion.
That leaves Stevenson looking elsewhere, and he’s landed on Haney’s last opponent and the man he seems to believe should be undisputed.
He took to Twitter to call out elite Ukrainian, Vasily Lomachenko, the former unified champion and three-weight title holder.
Yo Vasily Lomachenko. Nothing but respect champ [you] deserved them belts, I hope [you] healed up and everything is all good with you. I think it’s time for a REAL high skill level chess I’m ready for a big fight champ, let’s make something happen.”
Lomachenko took Haney the distance in May, with plenty of pundits and a large amount of fans believing he had done enough to win the fight and therefore the belts.
The 35-year-old didn’t get it on any of the scorecards, losing a unanimous decision to the man ten years his junior.
Despite calls for a rematch, it looks low on Haney’s list, so fans are left wondering where ‘Loma’ goes from here. If he wants to force another shot at the titles, there’s few better than Stevenson to occupy the other corner.
Both are currently under the Top Rank promotional banner, so a fight should be simple enough to make. As Stevenson points out, the skill on show come fight night would no doubt be a treat for boxing purists.