Shakur Stevenson’s time with Zuffa Boxing is over after three months, with no fight to show for the partnership. The unbeaten champion announced that he secured his release and will start his own promotional company, taking responsibility for getting his stalled career moving again.
In a video posted on YouTube and shared on X, Shakur said he had spent roughly eight weeks preparing for fights that never happened.
“I requested to be released from Zuffa Boxing. Now over the weekend, my request has been granted, and now I am officially a free agent.”
Stevenson gets to frame the departure as taking control of his destiny, while Zuffa quietly gets out from under an expensive, inactive contract before it becomes a multi-year stalemate. He signed in July but hasn’t fought since beating Teofimo Lopez on January 31 to capture the WBO and Ring light welterweight titles. Talks involving Devin Haney and Gary Antuanne Russell produced no fight. Zuffa declined immediate comment to The Ring.
The eight weeks in camp explain his frustration. Training without a confirmed date becomes expensive, and beating Teofimo should have given Shakur something to build on. Instead, most of the year has passed without another appearance.
“I am now taking my career in my own hands, and I’m starting my own promotional company,” Shakur said.
He is open to working with other promoters and networks. That gives him options, but independence also brings the business decisions closer to his own doorstep. He will need partners willing to finance the opponents he wants at prices everyone accepts.
Shakur’s preferred weight classes could also narrow those options. He wants the biggest fights at 135 or 140 pounds, with welterweight potentially a year or two away.
“I will get there, but on my term and not on nobody else’s.”
That makes an immediate return to the Haney negotiations difficult to picture. Their talks already ran into disagreements over weight and rehydration conditions, and Shakur is making clear that he feels no urgency to become a full welterweight.
Shakur said he wasn’t angry or pointing fingers. Still, leaving after three months shows how little the signing delivered inside the ring.
The next announcement needs an opponent and a date attached. Shakur has already changed promoters. Now he needs that decision to produce a fight.
