Following the retirement of Terence Crawford, the boxing world was wondering who was going to step up and take his spot as many fans’ top pound-for-pound boxer going into the future. Oleksandr Usyk is still that guy for many, as is Naoya Inoue, but perhaps no one has ascended more over the past couple of months than Shakur Stevenson.
Stevenson’s recent dominant win over Teofimo Lopez saw him debut at junior welterweight by capturing the WBO title. At 25-0 and on the back of an impressive win, Stevenson is up to No. 3 in Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound rankings. Now, people want to know what he’ll do next. Stephen A. Smith wanted to get to the bottom of that question in a recent interview.
Shakur Stevenson refuses to say top boxers are scared of fighting him
Smith asked Stevenson about three different boxers: Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney. He wanted to know if any of them were scared of Stevenson, in the champion’s eyes. While Stevenson didn’t claim any of them are scared of him, his answer for Davis particulary stood out.
- Shakur Stevenson on if Gervonta Davis is scared of him: “Hey man, like I said, I don’t speak on that dude.”
- Shakur Stevenson on if Ryan Garcia is scared of him: “He’s been saying my name lately, let’s see if he really sticks with it.”
- Shakur Stevenson on if Devin Haney is scared of him: “We’ll see, we’ll see.”
It sounds like Stevenson wants nothing to do with Davis following his legal issues. It’s smarter for Stevenson to avoid even discussing Tank at this moment in time, given how in limbo his personal and boxing future are.
Garcia and Haney are more open season. Garcia has mentioned Stevenson’s name in recent interviews, but King Ryan has to handle his own business with Mario Barrios, first, before even getting a shot at Stevenson. Haney, meanwhile, appears to be targeting either Richardson Hitchins or Keyshawn Davis for his next bout.
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