Shakur Stevenson, the WBC lightweight title, is Stephen A. Smith’s pick for who Gervonta Davis should fight next in November over Vasily Lomachenko.
Smith Favors Stevenson Over Lomachenko
Smith feels that IBF lightweight champion Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) lacks the power to knock out Tank Davis, and the fans would just be watching him try to outbox the Baltimore native and survive. Stephen believes Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) would stand a better chance against Tank.
A fight between Tank and Shakur would be a tough sell on PPV because Stevenson has no fanbase outside of Newark, New Jersey.
Stevenson failed to sell out the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for his last fight against Edwin De Los Santos and was booed for his safety-first approach to that contest.
“Shakur Stevenson [who Stephen A Smith wants Gervonta to fight next]. Now, Lomachenko is a brilliant tactician and a brilliant boxer. His footwork is magnificent, and he’s very experienced,” said Smith on his First Take YouTube channel about who he wants Tank Davis to fight next.
It’s unclear if Stephen Smith watches much boxing because he sounds like he has scant knowledge about the sport. Shakur is NOT a puncher, and he won’t knock out Tank Davis or keep him off. The only thing he’ll do is run around the ring, as he did against De Los Santos, Jeremiah Nakahilia, Oscar Valdez, and Robson Conceicao.
Shakur is fighting next month on July 6th against Artem Harutyunyan, and he’s not expected to knock out this fighter.
Stevenson’s Style Concerns
It’s an important fight for Shakur because he must make it entertaining after his last performance against De Los Santos by standing his ground instead of running for twelve rounds. That’s asking a lot of Shakur because he’s been fighting with the same style since his amateur days, and he won’t change now.
“My issue with Lomachenko is, I don’t know if he has the power to stop Gervonta Davis, which means we’d basically be watching the fight to see if he’ll outbox Gervonta or he’ll survive. That’s not the fight I want,” said Stephen.
No one in the lightweight division has the power to KO Tank Davis, apart from Abdullah Mason, but he’s too young to fight him. No one can stand and punch with Tank right now. So, of course, Lomachenko would box him because that’s the only chance he or anyone has of beating him.
“Tank is so much more powerful than people realize. I want to see him at the 140-lb limit. Don’t make Ryan Garcia come down to 135. Don’t have the rehydration clause in there. I’d like to see him in with a Teofimo Lopez, too. Not Devin Haney, because even though Devin Haney is a fabulous boxer, I don’t think he can take a punch from Gervonta Davis.”
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