Talks to stage a superb match of American champions Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson were described on Tuesday as “on track."
An individual familiar with the negotiations told BoxingScene that recent discussions have been so positive that it’s accurate to assess that the WBO 140lbs title bout is “imminent” to occur in late January in New York.
“The Ring” bout will be staged by Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, who this year has brought high-profile cards to New York’s Times Square and Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Junior-welterweight and two-division champion Lopez 22-1 (13 KOs) of Brooklyn last fought on the Times Square card, convincingly defeating interim champion Arnold Barboza Jnr by unanimous decision.
Three-division champion Stevenson 24-0 (11 KOs) of Newark, N.J., fought on the July card at the tennis facility, overwhelming power-punching Mexican William Zepeda by scores of 118-110, 118-110, 119-109.
The personable fighters are both 28 years old and arrive at the peak of their careers, each slotted within the various pound-for-pound rankings.
With DAZN staging a lightweight main event in Las Vegas January 24 between IBF champion Raymond Muratalla and 2021 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz of Cuba, the expectation is that Lopez-Stevenson will land on January 31.
That’s an attractive television date slotted between the prior weekend’s NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
