Shakur Stevenson says a lightweight unification fight between him and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis must happen because they’re the best fighters.
Unfortunately, for WBC 135-lb champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), a fight between them is not happening next because His Excellency wants to match him against #1 William Zepeda on a proposed card with Terence Crawford vs. Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Shakur, 27, might not win that fight against Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs), given the Mexican fighter’s superior power and offensive skills. Stevenson can’t stand in the pocket and fight Zepeda as he sometimes did for his last opponent, Artur Harutyunyan.
Zepeda hits too hard and throws too many punches for a pot-shot fighter like Shakur to battle him in the trenches. The only way Shakur can fight Zepeda is by running as he did against Edwin De Los Santos, and he might win using that approach.
Shakur hasn’t proven himself to be in Tank Davis’s class. His fights against De Los Santos and Joet Gonzalez showed that he’s not on Tank’s level.
Andre Ward: “Gervonta Davis, is it just boxing beef, or is it real beef?” said Ward on the All The Smoke Fight YouTube channel. “Where did it originate from? I know it’s a long story but whatever you can share.”
Shakur Stevenson: “It’s kind of bigger than boxing, I guess you could say. The history and everything that went on. It’s hard to even speak on it just because we got to fight.”
Ward: “You feel that’s going to happen?”
Shakur: “Yeah, I know it’s going to happen. I’m the best, and he’s the best. So when you got two guys that are the best, how can you not fight? The only way you cannot fight is if one of the guys isn’t like that, and somebody goes off to lose, or somebody takes an L.
“I think with both of us, we’re both fighters that’s really good fighters on that level.”
Ward: “From a boxing standpoint, what makes Tank Tank? We see the power, but it’s got to be more than that.”
Shakur: “Nah, he’s strategic. He’s setting guys up. He’s been boxing since he was a little kid just like I’ve been boxing since I was a little kid, and you can tell with his experience. Even in his last fight with Frank Martin, you could see Frank Martin was an amateur.
“The experience he’s got is not on the level of Tank. He just took off with experience. He let him waste his energy, gassed him out, and then round eight, it’s time to go home.”
Ward: “What would you like to see that fight [Tank Davis] happen?”
Shakur: “Whenever. I think I’m ready for it, and he’s ready for it. We’re both in our primes. It could happen next. It could happen next year. Whenever he say ‘Let’s fight,’ that;s when it;s going to happen.”
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