Stevenson: I’d fight Lomachenko and Tank in 2023 if I could have it my way
Shakur Stevenson hasn’t had easiest time landing opponents since moving up to lightweight.
Shakur Stevenson plans to campaign at lightweight for the foreseeable future, but despite making his plans public he hasn’t been successful in getting a notable name to sign up to take him on.
Stevenson tells Sky Sports that he believes he’s had a largely successful 2022, except for the one hiccup where he missed weight and had to vacate his junior lightweight title. That, however, is something Stevenson says will never happen again.
“We already looked for some top guys at lightweight and actually they turned me down already,” he said. “Guys like Isaac Cruz turned me down, that’s a top guy that fought ‘Tank’ [Gervonta Davis]. It’s real weird that they would turn down a guy that never fought one fight at 135lbs. It is what it is, we’re not tripping.”
The biggest names at lightweight appear to be all tied up for the moment with Devin Haney negotiating a fight with Vasiliy Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis having two of his own fights lined up. But even still, Lomachenko and Davis are two individuals he’s targeting knowing that Haney will soon move up to 140.
“I’ll probably fight Lomachenko,” he explained. “That could be after he fights Haney I think that me and him could fight. I know Devin plans on going to 140lbs. I’ll probably fight him for a vacant title. After [Lomachenko] I want to fight ‘Tank,’” he noted. “I want to fight ‘Tank,’ that’s who I would fight after Lomachenko, if I could pick my year.”
Stevenson will surely have to fight before facing either one of those potential opponents, and one name in particular he’s looking at is Jamaine Ortiz, who put up a better than expected performance against Vasiliy Lomachenko. Stevenson rates Ortiz as a good fighter, but also views him as a front-runner who fizzles out in the second half of fights.
But if an Ortiz fight presents itself Stevenson would oblige as the best available opponent for him, although he warns fans to expect a much more one-sided fight than when Ortiz took on Lomachenko.