Shakur Stevenson reiterated this week that he will never fight his good friend, Keyshawn Davis, regardless of what money is offered to him. The WBC lightweight champion says he and Keyshawn used to go to gyms when they were younger and beat up different fighters. They became close.
Stevenson says he and Keyshawn will “take over the sport of boxing.” Thus far, neither of these two fighters has shown the ability to be a top draw in the sport. Shakur has an outdated, dull Mayweather on his last legs style, and Keyshawn has a similar style.
Weight Bully?
The difference with Keyshawn Davis (12-0, 8 KOs) is he’s huge for the lightweight division and arguably should be fighting at 147 rather than 135. He looks massive for a lightweight. If Keyshawn had to fight where he belongs at welterweight against killers like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, his career wouldn’t be worth anything.
Keyshawn’s promoters at Top Rank likely would never agree to allow him to fight Boots because his chances of success would be nonexistent, and their investment in his career would have been wasted.
Fighting against smaller, older guys in lightweight divisions, Keyshawn has a chance while he’s young of becoming a champion but not a star. If he moves up where he should be fighting at welterweight, he’s food for fighters in this division.
“As we came up, me and Keyshawn would go to every gym, and we’d be whipping a**. We used to go to gyms and beat [fighters] up on some regular s***,” said Shakur Stevenson to Cigar Talk’s YouTube channel about why he will never fight Keyshawn Davis.
“Any gym. Like high-level. When I went to spar Lomachenko, Keyshawn was over there beating up some other Olympic gold medalist. Keyshawn was always with me. Once you get to that level, we knew this day was going to come.
“It was just a matter of time. We knew we both were going to be able to whip [fighters] a** and take over the sport of boxing. Now, the fans are going to demand and want to see us fight,” said Shakur about fans beginning to push to see him and Keyshawn fight in a division that lacks name fighters at the top.
Undefeated, Untested
Keyshawn failed in the 2020 Olympics, losing to Cuba’s Andy Cruz. It wasn’t a close fight. As pros, Keyshawn and Shakur haven’t beaten any high-level fighters yet. Shakur defeated several washed-up older and smaller fighters, Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring, but he hasn’t faced anyone at the top level. That’s why he’s chosen to defend against Floyd Schofield. Shakur is desperate.
He’s been calling out Vasily Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis, but he hasn’t gotten even a nibble from either of those fighters. One explanation for that is Stevenson’s boring style. He’s constantly getting booed by fans every time he fights, and he has no fanbase outside of his hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
Keyshawn has never fought anyone talented during his and has shown zero interest in avenging his four losses to Andy Cruz. He seems interested in taking the easy path, challenging WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk next month on February 14th. Davis says he believes a fight with WBA champ Gervonta Davis will happen once he wins the WBO title. That sounds like a pipe dream.
“It ain’t about the money,” said Shakur when told that Turki Al-Sheikh would probably offer him and Keyshawn a lot of money for the two of them to fight. “It ain’t about the money. I ain’t one of those [fighters] that money make me, bro.”
It’s too bad Shakur doesn’t want to fight his friend, Keyshawn, because that might be his best option for a big clash at lightweight. Unless Turki offers Tank Davis mega-millions, that fight ain’t going to happen for Stevenson. IBF lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko likely won’t fight Shakur either because he’s nearing 37, and he doesn’t want to fight a runner at this late stage of his career. If he were younger, Loma would take that fight in a second. Now, though, it doesn’t seem likely.
Once you remove Tank and Lomachenko from the equation, Keyshawn is the only one left for Shakur. There’s William Zepeda, but he’s not going to give Shakur the kind of payday that a fight against Loma and Gervonta would.
Keyshawn’s Best Career Wins
– Gustavo Lemos: *’5’4″ drained 140-lb fighter
– Nahir Albright: *razor-close win for Keyshawn. Hurt in the fight
– Miguel Madueno: *Fight looked more like a WWE battle
– Jose Pedraza: *35-year-old, much smaller & past his prime
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