Some fights, some match ups, seem inevitable, preordained even. This is the way unbeaten star Shakur Stevenson views a fight between himself and fellow unbeaten talent Devin Haney. Stevenson, who will have his long-awaited 135 pound debut on April 8, against Japanese warrior Shuichiro Yoshino, spoke with Tha Boxing Voice and the 19-0(9) operator said that he would be willing to fight Haney sooner rather than later.
Haney, 29-0(15) and holder of all four belts at lightweight, is set to face former pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko in May. After that fight, assuming Haney wins it, Stevenson is willing to get it on with him in what would be a huge fight between two of the best lower-weight stars in the sport today.
“Honestly, after [Haney’s] fight with Lomachenko, if he’s willing to stay and get a shortcut to getting all the belts at once….I’m down with that,” Stevenson said. “I know that [he] is a tough opponent. I feel like him and me was bound to fight and meant to fight. Whether it’s right now or later…When the time is right, we gonna pop it off.”
Haney would be defending his 135 pound belts in a fight with Stevenson, so it’s not clear what Stevenson means when he says Haney would, in a fight with himself, “get a shortcut to getting all the belts at once.” Still, belts or not, this is a potential super fight. Some fans might feel Stevenson and Haney should wait a while, maybe a year or so, to allow a fight between them to build and build. Other fans want to see this fight happen ASAP.
Stevenson sees himself as a future great, as does Haney. Who wins if/when these two do collide? To repeat, it really does seem inevitable that these two do fight each other one day. Stevenson fully understands this. Let’s hope Haney does too. With Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia fighting each other next month, we have proof that the best do still fight the best, this if two fighters who fully believe in themselves really do want to fight.
It’s more of a rarity these days, unfortunately, but the dare to be great, risky fights DO still happen. And in a fight with each other, Stevenson and Haney would be putting it all on the line.