Via Jim Calfa: WBO Super Featherweight Champion Shakur Stevenson Says He Has A “big surprise” for the fans with his next opponent when he returns to the ring. On Wednesday, undefeated Stevenson (17-0.9 KOs) told fans he’ll be up against someone special.
Right now, boxing fans are speculating that Shakur’s supporters in the Top Rated have a plan for Vasily Lomachenko to lose weight from lightweight to take on him.
Lomachenko is said to be the only one brave enough to face Shakur, as long as the Top Rated provides him with the right coins.
Stevenson & Lomachenko had fought before, and it was reported that Loma had problems landing before the New Jersey native.
Aside from Lomachenko and Oscar Valdez, it’s hard to predict who else could be the Shakur rival he’s talking about.
Assuming that Top Rank is pooled from 126, 130 to 135 lb divisions to pick Shakur’s next enemy, it could be one of the following fighters:
- Emanuel Navarrete
- Miguel Berchelt
- Kid Galahad
- Rey Vargas
- Stephen Fulton
- Chris Colbert
- Rolando Romero
My next opponent will be a big surprise.. P4P please give me
– Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) January 12, 2022
If it weren’t for Lomachenko and Valdez, Top Rated might compare Stevenson to Colbert or Navarrete. Those will be great options for Stevenson to fight next, and it attracts a lot of interest from boxing fans.
The top lightweight applications in the department are Freeze Lomachenkoand that is unlikely to change. Lomachenko is too talented to be given the chance to fight with mostly restricted light fighters at the start of the tournament which is why it’s so important for him to drop to 130 to challenge Shakur for his WBO belt. completely reasonable.
New undisputed lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr mentioned Lomachenko’s name as one of the boxers in the run-up to his title defense in May. However, very few boxing fans truly believe the Australians would pick him.
They believe the Kambosos will go with a soft pick picking 135-lb WBC champion Devin Haney, who can’t punch and has been injured repeatedly in his last two bouts against Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. and Jorge Linares.
Stevenson, 24, recently talked about wanting to face former triple world champion Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs), and if it weren’t for him, he’d want Oscar Valdez.
It’s safe to say that 130-lb WBC champion Valdez is NOT who 2016 Olympic silver medalist Stevenson will fight next.
There’s no interest in Valdez joining Shakur, and Topp Ratings boss Bob Arum doesn’t seem eager to make that fight for obvious reasons.
Valdez is a popular fighter, and if Arum lets him fight Stevenson, he could lose badly. Then Arum will destroy one of his essential revenue streams and he will NOT allow that to happen.
