Shakur Stevenson is giving Zuffa Boxing plenty of negotiating drama while offering almost no actual ring time. Devin Haney called him out on social media, saying Shakur tried to slide a rehydration clause into their deal after already settling on a 145-pound catchweight.
Months of back-and-forth have led nowhere, leaving the potential bout heading straight for the trash bin. Both guys need to walk away. Fans are completely burned out on endless debates about fight conditions that never materialize.
“You’re cap.. I agreed to 145 u went missing for days. Tried to put a rehydration clause on me. I wasted 6 months negotiating with you,” Haney said on X. “I been negotiating with u since i was gonna sign to Zuffa. Yall did every thing for this fight not to happen even tried to throw Keyshawn in my way.”
Stevenson countered by putting the blame entirely on Haney for shifting the goalposts on the scale.
“At the 11th hour, after agreeing to 144 and then 145, DeeHoe had his lawyer email and say that he would only fight at 147. Big waste of everybody’s time.”
If Haney is telling the truth, leaving the table makes complete sense. Cutting down to 145 was already a massive concession on his end. Capping his fight-night recovery weight puts him at a serious disadvantage, so Shakur cannot pretend that was part of the original bargain.
Zuffa Boxing has to evaluate the return on this investment. The promotional outfit needs fighters ready to lock in opponents, complete camps, and produce live events. Stevenson’s prolonged layoff, coupled with another stalled negotiation cycle, gives the company almost nothing to market.
In Dana White’s world, turning down names or holding out over morning weigh-in limits when millions are on the table gets a fighter sidelined or publicly roasted. Watching a flagship signing spend six months building a paper trail of excuses instead of lacing up against live bodies at 140 has to be driving him up the wall. If this is the return on investment Zuffa gets, Dana might quickly realize why boxing promoters have permanent headaches.
White built his entire empire on fighters who jump at short-notice calls, take on whoever gets put in front of them, and leave the boardroom nonsense outside the cage. His whole model runs on guys with that throwback, fight-anybody-anywhere attitude, not divas haggling over two pounds on a scale for half a year.
Zuffa’s move right now should be sliding a contract across the table for a legitimate 140-pounder, whether that is Richardson Hitchins on an in-house card, Ernesto Mercado, or another top contender, with standard championship terms and zero special catchweight carve-outs.
If Shakur signs, Zuffa gets an actual live event to broadcast and market. If he rejects it, Zuffa can simply sit on him. Promotional contracts typically include clauses where offering official bouts fulfills promotional obligations, and repeated refusals allow the company to freeze the deal or extend the term without paying purses.
Forcing Shakur to either take the next live body put in front of him or sit on the shelf watching the rest of the sport move on is the only leverage Zuffa has left.
