Shakur Stevenson says he’s ready to go after recovering from a hand injury that saw his scheduled fight against Joe Cordina canceled.
Newark, New Jersey’s Stevenson, 27, was set to defend his WBC lightweight title against Britain’s 32-year-old Cordina in a co-feature to the undisputed light heavyweight championship fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol on October 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
But with Stevenson, 22-0 (10 KOs), requiring immediate surgery on his hand, the fight against Cordina, 17-1 (9 KOs), was scrapped.
After watching lightweight Keyshawn Davis blow out Gustavo Lemos on Friday in a showcase in Davis’ hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, and speaking to DAZN on the sidelines of the Jaron Ennis-Karen Chukhadzhian fight in Philadelphia on Saturday, Stevenson revealed that he is healed and looking forward to making a return to the ring.
“I wanna get in the ring as soon as possible, watching these guys fight,” Stevenson said. “Honestly, what I’ve seen with Keyshawn last night, it kinda hyped me up and motivated me. It made me wanna put on a superstar performance and let the world know who I am once again, even though I had done that several times. But I’m going to do it again. So, there’s some brotherly competition there.”
Davis, 12-0 (8 KOs), dropped Lemos, 29-2 (19 KOs), three times en route to an emphatic third-round stoppage. The win puts Davis in contention for Stevenson’s WBC title, but the belt holder ruled out a possible slugfest with his friend.
“We’re gonna get right in the gym,” Stevenson said. “We were gonna make it out in the gym and have fun with each other in the gym, but at the end of the day, we got a lot of love for each other. It’s never gonna happen. I feel great; like I said, he’s so special. Keyshawn is up there with the elite and the best of the best.
“We can only take over the sport of boxing together.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].
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