Former world champion Mickey Bey knows a thing or two about great fighters. From his time inside the ring, training alongside the best in the world, to working with Devin Haney, and now Shakur Stevenson as well as Jared Anderson, it is hard to imagine a style that Bey has yet to see.
Bey recently concluded camp with Shakur Stevenson, working as a second-assist to the great trainer, Wali Moses, Stevenson’s grandfather and lead trainer. Bey, who has a long relationship with Stevenson’s manager, James Prince, originally came into camp to assist with Jared Anderson, but organically, he began to work with one of the best fighters in the world of boxing - Shakur Stevenson.
“He wanted an addition to his camp, a new look, and to see if we had any chemistry, so every time we worked, we just stepped up - so I pretty much just finished out the camp with him,” said Mickey Bey, who was originally going to help with Jared Anderson, but found himself working with a potential future pound-for-pound number one fighter in Shakur Stevenson. “Holding mitts for him, I can feel his power, he has a lot of snap, I think in these upcoming years, you will see some aggression.”
Stevenson, who fights this coming Saturday, April 8th, in the main event on ESPN, will face Shuichiro Yoshino, in a WBC lightweight eliminator. The winner will be the mandatory for the winner of Devin Haney versus Vasiliy Lomachenko, but if Haney wins, strong rumblings say Haney will vacate all four lightweight world titles. Bey sees Yoshino as an extremely tough opponent, and one you can’t overlook.
The bout which will take place in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey will be his third time fight at home on the big stage. Stevenson, who lost his unified WBO and WBC super featherweight world titles to the scale in his last fight against Robson Conceicao. Bey believes the fight could be exciting for the fans given the size difference and that Shakur will have to use a different mentality for this fight.
“You have to punish this guy [Yoshino],” said Bey. “Unless you want him to be all over you. I think it is a good style match-up, I think Top Rank did a great job putting this fight together, and getting this style for Shakur - it is a great style match-up."
