Tank Davis’ Team Will Send Shakur A Contract – ‘Take It’
Gervonta Davis’ trainer, Calvin Ford, has said they will send Shakur Stevenson a contract to make the fight.
The news follows after talks over a Vasiliy Lomachenko fight broke down. The Ukrainian’s manager, Egis Klimas, revealed that Loma has no motivation to fight right now, while Bob Arum expects him to fight sometime next year. That has left the door open for Shakur to take the fight. He is a free agent after having left Top Rank. He rejected a five-fight deal worth $15 million after beating Artem Harutyunyan to retain his WBC Lightweight Title.
His fighting style is the primary factor hindering Shakur from getting the big fights. The win over Artem was jeered, with some fans leaving before the final round. Meanwhile, in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos, Shakur’s defensive style also saw boos from the crowd. That will naturally impact the amount of money Stevenson can expect to receive since he is not the biggest commercial draw. But Ford was intent on making that fight.
Ford Reacts
“We going to send you a contract with the money. If they take it, they take it. We just seen what happened just now when Loma didn’t take the fight. Shakur is one of the last of the big 4, to tell you the truth,” Ford said
There is a danger that Shakur prices himself out. He was offered 25 percent to fight Devin Haney for the chance to become undisputed at 135. Shakur turned down the fight, stating that his commercial value was worth more. At the time, Shakur was undefeated and a two-weight world champion. The fight never got made as Haney vacated before moving up to 140.
Who Wins?
Shakur will now argue that he is an undefeated three-weight world champion with a WBC Lightweight Title. But when it comes to selling a PPV, that will not help Shakur. Ryan Garcia showed that world titles did not matter when he helped Davis sell over 1.2 million PPVs for their fight. The event became the highest-grossing bout of 2023. A Davis-Shakur fight will struggle to replicate anything near those numbers, but it will be a competitive affair, with Paulie Malignaggi seeing it as a 50-50 fight.
“People are divided down the middle. They don’t know who is going to win fight. Boxing rarely does this. Will these guys give us this fight? You can see that Shakur is talking about wanting the fight. He’s been wanting this fight. Shakur is the only one that has been calling all these guys out and the fight never happens. He’s a free agent. He can do it,” Malignaggi said
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