Shakur Stevenson makes his desire for future fight with Emanuel Navarrete known
For his last fight, WBO World Featherweight champion Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete (33-1, 28 KO’s) defended his title for the first time. He did so against the challenge of Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz (26-3, 16 KO’s). Once in the squared-circle, the two put on one memorable war. One interested and impressed spectator was former WBO Featherweight champion “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson (15-0, 8 KO’s).
Back on October 26, 2019 Fearless took on Joet Gonzalez in a personal grudge match to declare the fate of the then vacant title. Once in the ring, Stevenson proved to be the far superior competitor. After twelve rounds of domination, he picked up the vacant strap to become a full world champion for the first time. In fact, in his next bout, Stevenson will compete against Jeremiah “Low Key” Nakathila (21-1, 17 KO’s) for the Interim WBO World Super Featherweight title.
Having seen the grit, skill and determination that each fighter displayed, Stevenson took to his social media to voice his respect. Along with paying homage to the two boxers, Fearless also made it known that he would love to face Navarrete in the future. Obviously the two do not reside in the same division at the moment, but in the future, who knows? Yet, Stevenson used his post to kill two birds with one stone. As he gave a verbal pat on the back to Vaquero and Diaz, he took shots at those fighters in his own division.
DON’T DUCK ME SON!
For those familiar with the New Jersey native, it is no secret that he has had trouble securing some of the more meaningful bouts that he craves. At the top of the list is WBC World Super Featherweight champion Oscar Valdez (29-0, 23 KO’s). Stevenson has been screaming into every microphone, bullhorn and from every mountain top for this bout since 2019. Not only has he chased this fight for two years, he has pursued this bout over two divisions.
In fact, when Valdez was the WBO Featherweight champion the bout was actually mandated by the sanctioning body. Yet, it did not take long before Team Valdez expressed trouble making the weight and announced they would be moving up. When they made good on their word and vacated the belt, Stevenson picked it up in the aforementioned Joet Gonzalez scrap. At that point, Stevenson attempted to apply pressure on IBF World Featherweight champion Josh Warrington. Sadly, rather than face the young talent, the UK bruiser offered a bevy of rationales for why he was not going to face him. This naked evasion is what prompted Fearless to move up to super featherweight.
TIME WILL TELL
It will be telling to see what happens in the super featherweight division this year. At the moment, Stevenson is the mandatory challenger to face WBO World Super Featherweight champion Jamel “Semper Fi” Herring (23-2, 11 KO’s). Herring was just in the ring on April 3 when he claimed a sixth round stoppage of Carl Frampton. Many view Stevenson as the favorite going into that affair. Provided that Fearless does prevail, will Valdez continue to sidestep him in another division and with a full world title around his waist? If so, how could anyone do anything but accept Stevenson’s claim that he is a duck? Only time will tell, but there is no denying that the pressure is certainly on Oscar Valdez!
By: Bakari Simpson
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