What's Next for Shakur Stevenson?

Former two-division titleholder Shakur Stevenson was successful in his first outing at 135 pounds on Saturday, stopping Shuichiro Yoshino in the sixth round. Now that the former Olympian has that out of the way, how much longer will it be until he gets a shot at the title?

Stevenson (20-0, 10 KO), came into this weekend's fight with some added pressure—besides making his lightweight debut, he was also fighting in front of his hometown after missing weight in his previous bout. But Stevenson took care of business as expected, landing 50% of his total punches and winning in dominant fashion. When asked about a potential fight with the current undisputed world champion, Devin Haney, Stevenson had some interesting words to say about their experiences together in the amateurs in the post fight interview.

“I’ve been waiting for that for a long time. Me and Devin have been in the ring with each other for years. I always got the best of Devin,” Stevenson said.

Since Shakur’s ranked no. 3 by the WBC and no. 2 by the WBO and is currently a Top Rank fighter like Haney, Haney-Stevenson would seemingly be the fight to make. First though, Haney (29-0, 15 KO) will have to get through former three-division titleholder Vasily Lomachenko on May 20th.

Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KO) could also be a realistic opponent for Stevenson if he manages to pull off the upset on May 20th. Although, a matchup between Stevenson would be interesting at any point really. Loma is currently on a 3-fight win streak after his loss to Teofimo Lopez in 2020.

However, Stevenson and his team may not wait for the winner of that fight, and may opt to fight someone else on a sooner date. If so, a realistic option could perhaps be William Zepeda (27-0, 23 KO). The unbeaten southpaw is ranked no. 5 by the WBC and will be free after his bout with Jaime Arboleda on April 29.