By Keith Idec

OMAHA, Nebraska – Shakur Stevenson believes his performance Saturday night indicated how he’d fare versus Lee Selby.

The undefeated featherweight prospect just hopes he gets the chance to prove it. Stevenson called out the former IBF featherweight champion following his impressive three-knockdown, first-round technical knockout of Viorel Simion.

The 21-year-old southpaw became the first fighter to knock out or even knock down the Romanian veteran when they squared off in a scheduled 10-rounder ESPN aired as part of the Terence Crawford-Jose Benavidez Jr. undercard at CHI Health Center.

The 36-year-old Simion (21-3, 9 KOs) previously lost only 12-round unanimous decisions to Selby and ex-WBA super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg.

“I think I’m ready to fight Lee Selby now,” Stevenson told BoxingScene.com. “I’ve been telling everybody this for a minute. That guy went 12 rounds with Lee Selby and gave him a little problem. I just got him out of there in one round, so that tells a lot.”

Wales’ Selby (26-2, 9 KOs) lost his IBF featherweight title to England’s Josh Warrington (27-0, 6 KOs) by split decision in his last fight, a 12-rounder May 19 in Leeds, England, Warrington’s hometown. The 31-year-old Selby has much more pro experience than Stevenson (9-0, 5 KOs), a 2016 Olympic silver medalist.

That’s why the Newark, New Jersey, native wants that type of test this early in his pro career.

“It’d show a lot,” Stevenson said. “He’s a past world champion and after Lee Selby, I want Josh Warrington. I’ll go to England, too. I would love to fight in England.”

Warrington, 27, is scheduled to make his first IBF title defense against Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs) on December 22 in Manchester, England. Regardless of that outcome, Stevenson doesn’t think Selby or Warrington will respond favorably to his challenges.

“Trust, me they’re not gonna wanna fight me,” Stevenson said. “They’re gonna tell me no and duck the fight. But I know, sooner or later, they ain’t gonna have no choice.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.