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Shakur Stevenson Reportedly in Preliminary Talks With Next Opponent

Two pound-for-pound stars could be meeting in the ring sooner than later.
Tobias Linkin|
Shakur Stevenson
Shakur Stevenson | IMAGO / Torsten Helmke

Boxing’s next mega-fight could be on the horizon.

In a week that features Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani, David Benavidez vs. Gilberto Ramirez and an announcement for Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua, a boxing fan’s dream fight could be coming to fruition.

Mike Coppinger revealed on the Inside the Ring show that Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson have started preliminary discussions for a fight.

Right now, the primary issue holding up negotiations is weight. Haney is the WBO champion at 147 pounds, while Stevenson is the WBO champion at 140 pounds.

Haney, 27, and Stevenson, 28, are considered two of the best young fighters in boxing. Stevenson is coming off a dominant decision win over Teofimo Lopez for the 140-pound title, while Haney is coming off a decision win over Brian Norman Jr for the 147-pound title. 

On the latest Ring Magazine pound-for-pound rankings, Stevenson is third, only behind Inoue and heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Haney is ranked eighth.

An official announcement on the fight could be coming soon. Haney replied to a fan on X who asked about a potential fight announcement, to which Haney replied, “Soon, brother, InshaAllah.” 

Haney and Stevenson have gone back-and-forth for years

Shakur Stevenson
Shakur Stevenson | IMAGO / Torsten Helmke

Haney and Stevenson have gone back and forth both in person and online for multiple years. In February, Haney tweeted about a potential fight between him and Stevenson, referring to the fight as “the next biggest fight in boxing.”

Haney is not the only person to talk smack with Stevenson. Bill Haney, his father and trainer, spoke to ThaBoxingVoice, being very vocal about how a fight with Stevenson would play out. 

“Shakur is no different than everybody else. They’re all really good, but Devin is special."
Bill Haney

“I told y’all, Dev would beat the d** s*** out of Shakur Stevenson,” Haney said. "He has the style, he has the confidence and he has the ability to navigate his own career in a way that he’s able to fight all of them … that’s something that’s special.”

Devin Haney
Devin Haney | IMAGO / AAP

In an appearance on the Ariel Helwani Show, Stevenson called for a fight with Haney at a catchweight. 

"You know what I would love about that fight [with Haney]? I think Haney fought at catchweight against Jose Ramirez two fights ago, and it was at 144 pounds. So I would love to do it at 144 pounds. We can meet in the middle," Stevenson said.

Steveson added that he would like to make the biggest fights in boxing, regardless of who he’s fighting. A fight with Haney would likely be one of, if not the most popular, fights of the year.

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Tobias Linkin
TOBIAS LINKIN

Tobias Linkin is a boxing journalist for KO On SI based in Phoenix, Arizona. He's an experienced writer with years of experience covering a variety of topics. Linkin has covered Arizona State basketball, with his work featured on Reuters, and has already contributed to Heavy.com, where he covers the Miami Heat. His work has also been featured on Field Level Media, uSports, AZPreps365 and others. Linkin attended Arizona State University with a Bachelor's degree in Sports Journalism. He grew up in Austin, where he developed an unhealthy love for Tex-Mex food.

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