Shakur Stevenson wants to fight the most accomplished of the 130-pound champions when he moves into that division.

Stevenson’s preference is to remain at featherweight for one more fight against Josh Warrington, the IBF 126-pound champion. But with Warrington (30-0, 7 KOs) seemingly headed for another title unification match with China’s Can Xu (18-2, 3 KOs), Stevenson expects to vacate his WBO featherweight title and box at the 130-pound limit in his next appearance.

“I wanna fight Leo Santa Cruz,” Stevenson told BoxingScene.com. “I hear he’s supposed to fight Tank [Gervonta Davis], but I don’t think that Tank could make 130. His last fight was at ’35, and it was a struggle to make ’35. I don’t think that he could make 130, so I don’t see that fight happening.

“I see them talking about it, but I don’t really see that fight happening because Santa Cruz said he’s not fighting him at 135, that the fight has gotta be at 130. He just said that in an interview. He said that the fight would have to be at 130 because at 135 it’s taking away from [his] advantages to win the fight.”

The 31-year-old Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs), a four-division champion from Rosemead, California, previously had said he would move up to 135 pounds for the opportunity to battle Balitmore’s Davis (23-0, 22 KOs). Davis contends he can come back down to 130 pounds to fight Santa Cruz, but as Stevenson pointed out, Davis struggled to make 135 pounds for his 12th-round stoppage of Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) on December 28 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

A Santa Cruz-Stevenson fight is intriguing, but making bouts between Top Rank and Premier Boxing Champions fighters obviously isn’t easy. Santa Cruz is advised by PBC’s Al Haymon. Bob Arum’s Top Rank promotes Stevenson.

If it happens, Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) thinks he would beat Santa Cruz easily.

“I think that I’ll wash him,” Stevenson said. “I think that my style is too perfect for him. I think that he would try to press me and try to make a fight. I don’t think he’ll have trouble looking for me. I’ll be right in front of him, so he could see me. But I think I would win easy. Santa Cruz ain’t really got no big power, so the main thing with him is he gonna stay on his feet during that fight?”

Matching Stevenson, a 22-year-old southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, against the winner of the Miguel Berchelt-Oscar Valdez fight should be easier because all three fighters are promoted by Arum. Berchelt (37-1, 33 KOs) and Valdez (27-0, 21 KOs) are likely to fight for Berchelt’s WBC super featherweight title once the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end.

Stevenson wants the Berchelt-Valdez winner, but the 2016 Olympic silver medalist knows a victory over Santa Cruz would look good on his record.

“He’s a known name,” Stevenson said. “He’s already been in the big fights and he’s got a lot of experience, so I think that’ll look real good on my resume. That’s if I can get him in the ring, if Tank don’t get the fight. If Tank fight him and beat him, I don’t really think I would wanna fight him anymore.” 

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