Shakur Stevenson (15-0, 8 KOs) has already established himself as one of boxing’s brightest young stars, and the former 126-pound champion now has his sights set on the biggest names at 130 pounds.
Although likely next in line to face the winner of next month’s WBO title fight between champion Jamel Herring and Carl Frampton, Stevenson has made it clear that he’s most interested in a bout with newly-crowned WBC titleholder Oscar Valdez.
“I think he’s the better fighter out of everybody in the division, I think he established himself as one of the top fighters and I feel the top fighter in the division so I want Valdez more for sure,” Stevenson said on a recent edition of “The Last Stand” with Brian Custer. “I don’t know if he really wants to fight me, but our teams are talking and we going to see.”
The 23-year-old Stevenson, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist, won the WBO Featherweight title Valdez vacated with a unanimous decision victory over Joet Gonzales in October 2019. He then vacated that title and has since won back-to-back fights over Felix Caraballo and Toka Khan Clary at Super Featherweight.
Valdez, meanwhile, is coming off a breathtaking knockout victory over Miguel Berchelt last month.
With both fighters being promoted by Top Rank, a matchup between the two is certainly a possibility. Stevenson, however, says he’s had difficulty landing the big fights that interest him most, even going as far as to label himself as the division’s “boogeyman.”
“I feel like a lot of fighters don’t want to fight me, I feel like I had opportunities to fight in big fights, but I can’t in those big fights because of other fighters, it’s not me,” Stevenson said. “I just feel like these guys always find a way out, and I’m the boogeyman.”
In addition to Valdez, Stevenson has discussed a potential fight against Vasiliy Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and former three-division champion who also fights under the Top Rank banner. Although he’s coming off a loss to Teofimo Lopez, Lomachenko is still a prominent name in the sport, albeit one Stevenson would have full confidence in facing.
“There’s no way he can beat me,” Stevenson said. “It’s impossible, I would not let him beat me. Ain’t no way a scared man can beat me, I feel like there was a lot of fear in that Teofimo [Lopez] fight, and I just don’t think a scared man can beat me.”
Regardless of what’s next, it’s clear that Stevenson has options, and given his continued success and rising popularity, big fights are likely awaiting the Newark native.
THE LAST STAND FEATURING SHAKUR STEVENSON
