Shakur Stevenson angling for Lomachenko matchup

In an appearance on Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson on Tuesday, Shakur Stevenson reiterated his willingness to fight Vasyl Lomachenko. When asked about a potential matchup with the former unified lightweight champion, Stevenson responded:

“Yeah I would love to fight him... Especially him coming off a loss, he’s trying to prove himself, and he’s gonna get back in the ring with another young killer.”

This isn’t really anything new; Stevenson’s been calling out the big names and champions in and around his weight class for a while now, especially since vacating his featherweight belt and moving up to super-featherweight. Most recently he mentioned 126-pound WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete as a potential opponent, and sought title opportunities against Top Rank stablemates Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring.

Lomachenko is arguably the biggest test out of any of those names, and unlike the others Stevenson mentioned would be moving down in weight.

“I think he’s too small for 135. I think he should come down to 130. I think he would beat everyone at 130 except me and Tank (Davis).”

In the meantime, Stevenson (15-0, 8 KO) is set to face little-known Jeremiah Nakathila (21-1, 17 KO) on June 12, while Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KO) takes on Masayoshi Nakatani (19-1, 13 KO) two weeks later.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t think too much of Stevenson’s comments; I believe he’s more than willing to take on Lomachenko, but after a while the constant call-outs with comparatively few real-life matchups take a toll on my ability to get excited. However, Top Rank is adding a bit of fuel to the fire.

I guess we shall.