BY SEAN NAM
January 22, 2023
Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Lightweight titlist Shakur Stevenson appears to be looking forward to testing himself on the open market.
The skilled, three-division titleholder from Newark, New Jersey, indicated on his X (formerly Twitter) account this past weekend that he will become a free agent later this year. Stevenson typically fights twice in a calendar year.
Stevenson, 26, has spent his entire professional career under the aegis of Top Rank Inc., the famed promotional company founded by Bob Arum. Top Rank signed Stevenson coming out of the 2016 Olympics.
“Free Agent Season this year [two eyes emojis],” Stevenson wrote in a post.
Stevenson made it clear last year that he would refrain from automatically signing an extension with Top Rank, saying in an interview that he preferred to consider “every option possible” and was “willing to talk to anybody that wants to do great business” once his contract expired.
In that scenario, potential suitors for Stevenson could conceivably include Premier Boxing Champion, the outfit founded by Al Haymon, and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing. PBC backs American lightweight star Gervonta Davis, whose last several fights have been broadcasted exclusively on pay-per-view. Stevenson has long expressed a desire to fight Davis.
Another option could be fighting in Saudi Arabia, where an increasing number of high-profile fights are being made, thanks to the mindset of their government. Top Rank’s Arum recently floated the idea of Stevenson fighting Davis in the oil-producing country, as their high bankroll could ensure that both fighters and their representatives are financially satisfied. Turk Alalshikh, who is responsible for greenlighting boxing matches in Saudi Arabia, recently invited Davis to fight in the country sometime later this year.
Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs), to be sure, is coming off a highly lampooned effort in his last bout, a dreary decision over Edwin De Los Santos in November to earn the vacant WBC 135-pound title. In a fight in which neither fighter landed double-digit punches in any of the 12 rounds, Stevenson himself admitted afterward that he put on a “bad performance.”
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