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Jeff Mayweather believes Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis 24-0 (22) would present the toughest test to WBC and WBO super featherweight champion Shakur ‘Fearless’ Stevenson 18-0 (9).
The 24-year-old Stevenson from Newark, New Jersey wrested the WBC belt from previously undefeated Mexican Oscar Valdez 30-1 (22) by unanimous decision at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night. The scores were 117-110, 118-109 and 118-109.
Southpaw Davis, 27, has fought from 130 to 140 pounds in the past eighteen months but seems to have settled into the lightweight division, just five pounds north of where Stevenson currently competes. Stevenson has stated his desire to unify all four major titles at 130-pounds before moving up in weight.
Former boxer Mayweather, who is the uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr, says Stevenson vs Davis is the fight to make.
“There’s a lot of challenges out there, and I think he’s going to get better as he goes up in weight as well,” Mayweather said to FightHubTV.
“You have Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, you have Rolly [Romero], you have Tank. I would say Tank [would be the biggest challenge] because he has one-punch knockout power.
“I’m not saying he’s the best, but if he hits you, chances are something is going to happen. He’s the only one out of all of them that has that factor that nobody else has.”
Stevenson previously held the WBO featherweight title before moving up in weight in 2020. Last October he stopped reigning WBO champion Jamel ‘Semper Fi’ Herring 23-3 (11) in the 10th round to claim his first belt in his new weight class.
It was a classy performance at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta by Stevenson. Two judges gave him every round against the experienced Herring, while the third judge gave him every round but one.
Herring wasn’t surprised by the result of the Stevenson vs Valdez fight on the weekend.
“I was in there with Shakur last, so I wasn’t surprised,” Herring said to FightHubTV.
“Credit to Valdez. He landed the most punches ever to be landed on Shakur Stevenson, 110 exactly. Shakur is a technician and really crafty and really defensive skilled defensive genius in there. He’s hard to hit.
“He sees everything. It’s high ring IQ. You got guys that will parry and paw all night and still get clipped by leaving it out there.
“With him, he reacts really quickly to any movement that you do with him, and that’s what makes it tough to hit him.”
The super featherweight division isn’t the deepest in boxing but if Stevenson is resolute about staying put at 135-pounds he would be favoured to beat IBF champion Kenichi Ogawa 26-1-1 (18) of Japan and WBA boss Roger ‘The Kid’ Gutierrez 26-3-1 (20) of Venezuela.
After his victory over Valdez, Stevenson made it clear what his plans were.
“I want to collect all the belts at 130 and become undisputed,” he said. “I deserve to be a superstar, so that’s what I gotta do.”
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