LAS VEGAS – If Shakur Stevenson defeats Joet Gonzalez, the emerging featherweight contender can’t imagine remaining in that division much longer.
There’s only one fight, according to Stevenson, that could keep him at featherweight even if he wins the vacant WBO 126-pound crown when he faces Gonzalez on October 26 in Reno, Nevada. That would be a title unification match with England’s Josh Warrington.
The 22-year-old Stevenson has been calling out Warrington (29-0, 6 KOs), the IBF featherweight champion, for about a year.
As much as Stevenson wants Warrington, though, the fight that he really wants would be a 130-pound showdown with Vasiliy Lomachenko. Promoter Bob Arum, whose company represents Lomachenko and Stevenson, said recently that he eventually would welcome that fight at the 130-pound limit.
“I don’t got my eyes on nobody at 135, but I do know that Lomachenko probably gonna go back down to 130,” Stevenson told a group of reporters recently. “I’m gonna move up to 130 and it’s gonna come a time where it’s gonna be me and Lomachenko for a clash, and I can’t wait for it. I’ve been saying Lomachenko’s my dream fight since I was 2-0. Y’all can look at interviews of me at 2-0, saying I would love to fight Lomachenko. So, they can say whatever they want. It’s gonna happen one day.”
Stevenson has no doubt that Lomachenko would fight him.
“Lomachenko’s competitive,” Stevenson said. “That’s one thing I learned when I went to go spar him. He’s competitive and I’m a competitor. That’s gonna be two top competitors in the ring with each other, two great fighters that actually will wanna fight each other.”
Lomachenko hired Stevenson as his primary sparring partner prior to his technical-knockout win over Guillermo Rigondeaux in December 2017.
“We did a lot [of rounds],” Stevenson said. “I ain’t saying the exact [number of rounds], but he used me a lot in training camp. Basically, I was really his main person that he was sparring.”
When asked what he learned when he battled Lomachenko, a smiling Stevenson said, “I ain’t gonna say too much. You gonna have to wait and see.”
Stevenson (12-0, 7 KOs), of Newark, New Jersey, and Gonzalez (23-0, 14 KOs), of Glendora, California, are the WBO’s No. 1 and No. 2 featherweight contenders, respectively. They’ll fight for the title Oscar Valdez vacated to move up to 130 pounds in an ESPN+ main event from Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
Ukraine’s Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs), the WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champ, is expected to face the winner of the upcoming Richard Commey-Teofimo Lopez lightweight title fight. Commey (29-2, 26 KOs), the IBF 135-pound champion, will make a mandatory defense versus Lopez (14-0, 11 KOs) on December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.