Shakur Stevenson cannot envision Devin Haney losing to Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Even if Haney-Lomachenko unfolds the way Stevenson sees it happening, the former featherweight and junior lightweight champion still wouldn’t expect Haney to defend the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight championships against him. Stevenson, the WBC’s third-ranked challenger for one of Haney’s titles, thinks Haney will give up his belts and move up to the 140-pound division after he faces Lomachenko.
Stevenson discussed possibly facing Haney during a recent appearance on “The DAZN Boxing Show,” which is co-hosted by Barak Bess and Akin Reyes.
“I called Devin out,” Stevenson said. “The thing is, Devin got a situation with Lomachenko, where they going for that route. He’s going up to 140. Like I think we all know that he’s gonna try to move up to 140 after that. So, you know, he looked real dead after his last fight with [George] Kambosos, so you can’t pin it all on him. You can’t blame him. If the fight happens, I will definitely be down for it.”
The 23-year-old Haney has made it clear that he won’t continue to compete in the lightweight division much longer.
Decision-makers for Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. – which promotes Haney, Lomachenko and Stevenson – haven’t solidified a date or site for Haney-Lomachenko. Haney (29-0, 15 KOs), of Henderson, Nevada, and Ukraine’s Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) are expected to fight next, however, in what figures to be the most difficult fight of Haney’s seven-year professional career.
Stevenson’s handlers are negotiating with representatives for Japanese contender Shuichiro Yoshino for them to fight April 8 in a main event ESPN will televise from a venue to be determined. A WBC elimination match between Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) and Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs), who is ranked fifth among the WBC’s lightweight contenders, would determine the WBC’s next mandatory challenger in the 135-pound division.
If Haney were to defeat Lomachenko and give up his four lightweight titles, the Stevenson-Yoshino winner would box another contender for the WBC’s unclaimed lightweight championship.
The 25-year-old Stevenson, a southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, will make his debut at the 135-pound limit in his next fight. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist lost his WBC and WBO 130-pound championships at the scale because he came in overweight for his 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat of Brazil’s Robson Conceicao (17-2, 8 KOs) on September 23 at Prudential Center in Newark.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.