Unexpectedly, Shakur Stevenson is not retired after WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman revealed that Steveson would remain the WBC champion of the lightweight division due to not having retired. While Stevenson already appeared to have confirmed he wasn’t retired when he spoke last week of fighting in June, it was difficult to ascertain how serious he was.
Shakur Stevenson (21-0, 10 KO’s) announced his retirement following the announcement of Emanuel Navarrete (38-1-1, 31 KO’s) facing Denys Berinchyk (18-0, 9 KO’s) for the vacant WBO lightweight title. As Stevenson had apparently wanted to fight Navarrete himself―as the two are signed to the same promotional outfit of Top Rank, the news struck a nerve within the WBC lightweight champion which led to him posting a hasty and frustrated message on Twitter that resulted in him ‘retiring’.
However, it now turns out Stevenson had never retired in the first place. As he held the WBC lightweight title, it would be expected for him to relinquish his title, however Stevenson never did as such following his retirement announcement. More recently, the president of the WBC, Mauricio Sulaiman, asserted that Stevenson had never been retired in the first place based on a conversation he held with Stevenson which exposed the fact the American lightweight had merely been frustrated with his circumstances.
“He communicated directly with me [and] confirmed that it was just a frustrated statement and that he’s happy to be the WBC champion.” Sulaiman told Pro Boxing Fans.
With Sulaiman’s confirmation that Shakur Stevenson had merely sent out a message of retirement because he was upset, Stevenson has suffered a rather embarrassing stain on his name with his impromptu retirement post which turned out to never be true in the first place.
Stevenson’s irritation at Navarrete fighting Berinchyk also appear quite premature as there will likely be opportunities for him to face the winner of Navarrete-Berinchyk who will become the WBO champion and allow Stevenson to fight in a unification bout. Moreover, Navarrete has never fought at lightweight prior―having only fought at super featherweight and below, thus it would not help Stevenson’s credentials if he defeated a fighter that had moved up to a division he never fought in before.
Shakur Stevenson’s aggravation might be explained through the fact he has not been able to land any of the fights he wanted, with most recently a planned fight against Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KO’s) imploding as Martin pulled out shortly following the announcement that they would fight. Before that, Stevenson had been close to landing a fight against then-undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KO’s), but Stevenson mishandled the opportunity to become undisputed by rejecting the offer sent his way.
Currently, the 26-year old Stevenson is far from a bad position with his grasp over the WBC lightweight title, and despite his claims of boxing politics standing in the way of his career, his own hints that his contract with Top Rank will expire after his supposed upcoming fight in June does present opportunities for him to fight against those he seeks if he signs with the right promotion.
Matchroom in particularly could be a potential destination for Stevenson following the expiration of his contract with Top Rank, with Devin Haney’s association to Matchroom allowing Stevenson to revisit the Haney fight.
Alternatively, Shakur Stevenson can re-sign with Top Rank under condition that he will get the fights he wants, as his manager can negotiate this stipulation and Top Rank―as a boxing promotion―are supposed to provide their fighters with the fights and earnings they deserve. Stevenson’s willingness to fight Devin Haney at super lightweight/junior welterweight further opens up an avenue for him to at least consider changing promotions if his contract is truly set to expire.
