Shakur Stevenson, widely considered a future pound-for-pound number-one fighter, is now looking to become a three-division world champion this fall and previously held the WBO featherweight title that he won against Joet Gonzalez and unified the WBO and WBC super featherweight world titles before a scale fail saw him vacate both belts.
Stevenson's journey is not unlike a lot of great boxers as it started with Olympic success that ended with him garnering a silver medal in the bantamweight division at the 2016 Summer Olympics losing in the finals to now WBO featherweight world champion, Robeisy Ramirez.
Stevenson was fast-tracked as a pro. Facing tough opposition early and often, as Stevenson is only 20-0, with 10 KOs as of now, but has held three world titles across two weight classes. Now add to the fact, that Stevenson is currently the number-one contender for both the WBO and WBC lightweight world titles. The current lightweight champion who holds all four widely considered world titles is Devin Haney, but he appears to be fighting Regis Prograis at 140 lbs., but is looking to keep his world titles despite moving up.
Now comes the difficult task as Stevenson is currently representing a high-risk, low-reward fighter, who is having trouble getting the big-name fights. Vasiliy Lomachenko appears to be contemplating retirement, and thanks to Gustavo Lemos missing weight, might get a shot against George Kambosos Jnr at some point in the future for the vacant IBF lightweight title, a fight that was thought to happen prior. Isaac "Pitbull" Cruz is rumored to face Gervonta Davis in the fall...so despite some big names in the division. It is hard for Stevenson to land a fight.
Here are some possible options for the rumored November return of Shakur Stevenson.
Emanuel Navarrete
Coming off the biggest win of his career, Emanuel Navarrete said he'd fight Shakur Stevenson - now the question is could it be next? Navarrete and Stevenson are both main event fighters and share the same promoter. Navarrete is also the WBO super featherweight world champion, and if he were to move up could get a chance to fight for the WBO lightweight world title right away. In terms of a 'big name' fight this is about as good as it gets for an in-house Top Rank fight.
The next question becomes - would Navarrete risk it all right now? Navarrete, a three-division world champion, might have future fights with guys like Luis Alberto Lopez, who could be moving up in weight soon, as well as could attempt to unify the junior lightweight division if need be. Navarrete also is an interesting stylistic match-up as he is reckless, aggressive, and throws a lot of punches making him an interesting challenge for the master craftsman in Shakur Stevenson.
Denys Berinchyk
A friend of Oleksandr Usyk, who fights Anthony Yigit this Saturday in Poland, Berinchyk is currently ranked number four by the WBO and might get the call if enough fighters are unwilling.
Denys Berinchyk is best known for fighting in the lightweight division at the 2012 London Olympics for Ukraine. Berinchyk's run was overshadowed by teammates Vasiliy Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk, who both won gold. As Berinchyk was eliminated in the quarterfinals as he didn't medal. Despite the hype and hope around Berinchyk's career, he has been moved very slowly. Berinchyk turned professional two years prior to Stevenson, yet has three less professional fights than Stevenson and two fewer after Saturday.
Berinchyk has also never fought for a world title.
Edwin De Los Santos
A breakout lightweight contender of the past year, who has mostly fought under the Premier Boxing Champions banner, De Los Santos, is number-six in the WBC rankings, and number-twelve in the WBO rankings. Most importantly De Los Santos has been calling out Stevenson on Twitter. De Los Santos revived his career with a win over the popular Jose Valenzuela and recently got a one-sided win over Joseph Adorno.
Given the amount of callouts De Los Santos has done to Stevenson is it is hard to believe he'd say no.
Frank Martin
Martin is a world-rated lightweight, who has emerged out of Derrick James' stable in Texas with the likes of Errol Spence Jr., and Jermell Charlo. An offensive-minded puncher, who doesn't show too much of a plan-b, which might be a trait of James' fighters in general, is ranked number-four by the WBC and number-six by the WBO. Martin has become an exciting fringe star given his high profile team he is around and this was best seen when he headlined a Showtime Championship Boxing card in July.
The big question with this fight is can egos and money get out of the way for two promoters to work together, as Martin is with the PBC and Stevenson is promoted by Top Rank.
William Zepeda
We have to mention Zepeda because he is awesome - but this fight seems unlikely. Zepeda currently appears to be targeting the WBA lightweight title and will face Mercito Gesta on September 16th. A turnaround of roughly two months seems a bit quick and rushed for a fighter who looks to be a centerpiece of Golden Boy Promotions' future. Yet, he is ranked number five by the WBC and number seven by the WBO, which puts him right in the mix to land a Shakur Stevenson fight. That said, he is currently number-two in the WBA, which only has Isaac Cruz ranked above him, another exciting Mexican fighter, as the WBA lists two champions, Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis currently.
So it is unlikely we see Zepeda facing Stevenson.
Raymond Muratalla
Manager Robert Garcia has said all Muratalla needs is a chance. Given that he had to withdraw from a fight a week ago with an injury, one that we hope isn't serious it would not be out of the realm of possibility that Muratalla gets the opportunity of a lifetime to fight Stevenson for a vacant world title in November if things go his way. Muratalla currently sits at number nine in both the WBC and WBO world rankings, and has become a top contender over the past year-and-a-half.
