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Shakur Stevenson has his eyes set on the lightweight division, a move that could potentially shake up the landscape of the talent-laden 135-pound weight class.
In an interview on the Last Stand Podcast with Brian Custer, the unified super-featherweight champion revealed that moving up a division higher is definitely among his plans for the immediate future.
Although he acknowledged that the division ahead of him is stacked with big names and talented young fighters like himself, the 25-year-old believes he has the attributes and mentality to take on the challenge and reign supreme. He said:
“I think that 135 [pounds] is coming real soon. I feel like all the big fights are at 135. I feel like all the big names are at 135. It’s just depending on what’s going on at 130. I feel like I’m one of the best fighters in this sport of boxing. And if the division ahead of me is one of the best divisions in the sport of boxing, why not go there and meet some of these guys too? I don’t duck no action.”
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Among the big names currently in the lightweight division were Undisputed Champions Devin Haney, Gervonta Dabis, Vasiliy Lomachenko, and Ryan Garcia.
Stevenson is already a two-weight world champion. He won his first belt in 2019 when he conquered the WBO Featherweight Title. He then moved up to the 130-pound division where he is the current unified WBC/WBO/The Ring champion following his complete performance against Oscar Valdez in April.
His unified titles will all be on the line when he takes on Olympic gold medallist Robson Conceicao on his home soil in Newark, New Jersey on September 23.
Watch the highlights of Shakur Stevenson's win vs Oscar Valdez:
Shakur Stevenson sees Devin Haney and Tank Davis as major opponents at 135 lbs
When asked which of the top lightweights he would be most interested in fighting, Shakur Stevenson made special mentions of Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis. He said:
"They are both big fights. At the end of the day, you gotta respect Tank [Davis] what he does, he goes in there and knocks these dudes out that don't really belong in the ring with him. And you gotta respect Devin. He earned my respect a lot with that performance. I feel like [George] Kambosos was the man who beat the man, who beat the man, but Devin dominated him. He beat him with the jab, his boxing was beautiful, his defense was on point.”
Despite the potential rivalry, Stevenson remains grounded and still wishes his fellow young fighters success. He even pointed out that the three of them are all "black, young fighters" and that he would love to see them thrive in the sport of boxing.
Watch Shakur Stevenson on the Last Stand Podcast:
