Shakur Stevenson Calls Out Vasiliy Lomachenko
After turning down a contract to face undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney, “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson (20-0, 10 KO’s) seems to have moved on. Feeling that he’d been low balled, the two-division champion has now called out three-division champion Vasiliy “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KO’s). Lomachenko is himself coming off an exciting, controversial-to-some unanimous decision loss to Haney. Now both, Hi-Tech and Stevenson, need a fight and clearly Fearless believes pairing up is the move to make.
A LOT OF TOUGH TALK
Technically speaking, Stevenson versus Lomachenko is a fantastic fight. Both competitors are razor sharp and itching to prove their worth. Yet, some have questioned Stevenson’s moves as of late. His claim to being underbid by Team Haney is falling on deaf ears for a large contingent of fans. Within the lightweight division, Haney has campaigned for years, calling out all the biggest fights available. Among those that he hounded were: Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomochenko.
Haney would go largely ignored until he defeated then unified champion George Kambosos to become undisputed. To get that match however, Haney had to take short money and travel to face Kambosos in his Australian backyard. Even after soundly defeating him, Haney was required to return to Australia as the champion to stage the rematch.
HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?
Given all those recent sacrifices, many don’t honor Stevenon’s claim that short money alone is enough to ignore a shot at being undisputed and putting on a potentially historic fight. Going a step further, on the outside looking in, it’s unlikely that Loma will dance with Stevenson in the first place. When Haney was in a naked pursuit of the showdown, one of Lomachenko’s main rationales for not wanting the fight is because Haney did not have a belt.
Evaluating Stevenson’s bargaining position, he is short a belt and a quality win over a top name in the division. There is little reason to believe Hi-Tech will bite at this callout. In fact, while he could change his mind, he’s already given Stevenson the brush off. So, the best bet would be for Stevenson is to either send a counteroffer to Team Haney or swallow his pride and take the same leap of faith toward greatness that Haney did. Thankfully, no matter how this all resolves itself, 3Kings Boxing will be here to report the news.
