The WBC has ordered a vacant title fight between undefeated stars from separate sides of the street — Shakur Stevenson, a Top Rank jewel, and Frank Martin, a Premier Boxing Champions stud.
As Boxing Scene noted, it would mark a rare occasion that prominent, enigmatic dealmakers J. Prince and Al Haymon could do business together.
Stevenson is already a two-weight world boxing champion having won major honors at featherweight and super featherweight in recent years.
He recently moved to the lightweight division, and finished Shuichiro Yoshino in the sixth round of a bout in Newark, in April, earlier this year.
Martin is a southpaw like Stevenson but is already accustomed to the 135-pound division, and made his mark at lightweight when he dominated Michel Rivera in what was regarded as a 50:50 bout, last year.
Representatives for the two fighters must agree to terms for the fight by September 5 to avoid a purse bid situation in which the bout instead heads to the open market.
In that scenario, it's possible — but perhaps unlikely — that a rival promoter, or start-up company could enter with a bid that blows one put forth from Top Rank or PBC out of the water.
Stevenson, meanwhile, has been linked with a return to the ring on November 16, which is a Thursday, as Top Rank has a commission hold for that date at a to-be-determined venue, per the Nevada State Athletic Commission's calendar.
According to a source with knowledge of his situation, Stevenson will headline the event in a bid to capitalize on the amount of sports tourism in the area as the Formula 1 races into town for the first time.
Though Martin has been linked with Stevenson that night, a second ProBox TV source told us last week that they'd heard of no internal conversations to suggest that was the case.
Premier Boxing Champions, the source stressed, does not regard such a bout as a mismatch, and likes the fight.
PBC believes Martin would be competitive against Stevenson, the source said.
However, the source doubted there is enough money for both Top Rank and PBC to benefit from a cross-promotion, as it won't likely be a pay-per-view show considering it's a Thursday fight.
