Bill Haney Reacts To Shakur Stevenson’s Retirement – ‘Conspiring, Publicity Stunt’
Bill Haney reacted to Shakur Stevenson’s retirement from the sport, shocking boxing fans.
Stevenson announced the decision just as the WBO ordered the Emanuel Navarrete vs Denys Berinchyk bout for the vacant lightweight belt. Since Shakur had been targeting a fight with Navarrete to try and unify, that may have left him feeling frustrated. It is no secret that Stevenson has been under a lot of criticism of late.
His last performance against Edwin De Los Santos came under fire despite winning a unanimous decision for the WBC belt. Stevenson’s defensive performance failed to help him, as he was booed during the fight. This was even though he had entered the fight with a hand injury.
But given that the win made him a three-weight world champion, the news did come as a shock. It also rules out fights with Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis. This something boxing fans were demanding despite the failure to kickstart negotiations. Now Bill Haney has had his say.
Haney On Stevenson
“As far as the retiring and the conspiring going on in boxing…we got a recent retirement or is it a publicity stunt with the Stevenson team?…Now I hear there might’ve been some conspiring going on with the infamous, mysterious run in the middle of the night with Ryan Garcia and ‘TBE’ Floyd Mayweather,” Haney said
But just as Stevenson has left the sport, Ryan Garcia has set his sights on trying to secure a mega-fight with Naoya Inoue. After stopping Marlon Tapales in his last fight, the Japanese is the current Undisputed Super Bantamweight Champion. The win made him a two-weight undisputed champion alongside Terence Crawford in the four-belt era.
Although Inoue fights at 122 pounds, Garcia is keen on making that fight. It is very unlikely since Garcia is a 140-pounder. Meanwhile, Inoue can only be expected to move up a little further since he started at 108 pounds. This could be an attempt by Garcia to keep himself relevant following his failed negations with Devin Haney and then Rolando Romero. But that did not stop Garcia from wanting the fight.
Garcia On Inoue
“I believe Inoue can become a multiple-weight world champion. So, I’m thinking, what if one day we end up fighting? I’m talking about the future, and we do it in Japan. It’ll be huge. Mark my words. If that fight plays out that way, that fight will be one of the biggest PPVs of all time. Remember, I just said that,” Garcia revealed
But before that can even happen, Garcia must overcome the damage to his reputation after going back to Haney for a fight. After withdrawing in favour of Rolando Romero, it was vital to secure that fight. Since that has failed, since Romero has signed to face Isaac Cruz, Garcia must banish those critics and make the biggest fights possible. Securing the Haney fight may well do that.
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