Abdullah Mason, Top Rank’s talented lightweight prospect, believes he could face Shakur Stevenson, Gervonta Davis, and Vasily Lomachenko if they’re still around when he gets to the top of the division.
The 20-year-old Mason (14-0, 12 KOs) has yet to be ranked among the top-tier fighters due to his age, inexperience, and the fact that he is just starting out in his career. He believes he could soon fight for a world title, which his Top Rank promoters will determine.
Unfortunately, Tank Davis and Lomachenko will likely have retired when Mason is ready to fight for a world title. Those two are getting older and won’t stay around and become stepping stones to younger fighters.
Shakur Stevenson appears to be forming a friendship with Mason, which could mean he won’t agree to fight him. Stevenson has already become friends with the unbeaten Keyshawn Davis, who some feel is a young Terence Crawford-type talent heading toward stardom in the lightweight division.
“In boxing, there’s one thing we say. Boxing will determine who I will fight once I get to the top. So, if they are at the top long enough, of course, there will be some fights that will have to happen,” said Abdullah Mason to UCSS when asked if he could face Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson and Vasily Lomachenko in the future.
It’s possible that by the time Abdullah Mason fights for a world title at lightweight, the landscape will be different, and without the current top fighters, Tank, Lomachenko, and Shakur, holding belts. If Keyshawn had a world title by then, Mason could fight him if Top Rank wanted that match-up, but they could choose to keep them apart to ensure there were two revenue streams and to turn them both into stars.
Last Saturday night, Abdullah Mason turned in the night’s performance, stopping Luis Lebron in the third round on the undercard of Shakur Stevenson vs. Artem Harutyunyan at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Interestingly, Mason received more applause from the New Jersey fans than their hometown fighter, Shakur.
Mason fights next month against Augustin Quintana in an eight-rounder on the undercard of Christian Mbili vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko on August 17th at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City. The event will be shown on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.
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