Shakur Stevenson still bitter over WBC title loss, blames sanctioning fee dispute

The former lightweight champion says he expected to be stripped after refusing to pay a sanctioning fee tied to a proposed Teofimo Lopez fight

Shakur Stevenson says he knew the WBC was going to take away his lightweight title long before the decision became official. The unbeaten champion claims he refused to pay a sharply increased sanctioning fee connected to a proposed fight with Teofimo Lopez at 140 pounds.

Shakur revisited the dispute this week, which involved the sanctioning fees the WBC wanted for his fight against Teofimo after he chose to freeze his title, leaving the contenders waiting while he fought outside of the weight class.

“I want to say [the WBC wanted] triple of what I had to pay for my fight with Zepeda,” said Shakur to Andre Ward on YouTube. “For the Teo fight, they tried to triple it. Basically, they kept sending emails back and forth to my team.”

Interestingly, Stevenson says he was already expecting to lose the belt and never seriously considered paying the requested fee.

“I already knew beforehand they was going to strip me,” Shakur said. “I was cool with it because I know this ain’t right. I’m not paying nobody that much money if you don’t have nothing to do with my fight. What am I paying you for? This is a WBO sanctioned fight for me and Teo at a different weight class.”

The 28-year-old Shakur believes the WBC’s actions were influenced by its ongoing issues with Terence Crawford, who has had public disagreements with the organization in recent years.

“Truthfully, I feel like their issue is more so with Bud,” Shakur said. “Why are you taking out your beef you got with Bud on me? I just don’t respect it.”

While Shakur continues to view the situation as a sanctioning fee dispute, the other side of the argument is that the WBC had little reason to freeze its lightweight championship while he pursued a fight in another division. Had the title remained inactive, contenders waiting for their opportunity at 135 would have been forced to sit on the sidelines while Stevenson chased a bigger fight and payday at 140.

The episode remains a sore spot for Shakur, who has raised the issue repeatedly in interviews since being stripped. What remains unclear is whether he ever intended to return to lightweight and defend the title, or simply wanted to keep possession of the belt while exploring opportunities elsewhere. Either way, the WBC opted to keep its lightweight division moving rather than allow the championship to remain in limbo.

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