Shakur Stevenson woke up shocked. Despite the phenomenal success at his Riyadh Season debut, the Olympian had to settle with a relegated status in boxing’s exclusive pecking order: the pound-for-pound best. Perhaps what might have rubbed the salt on the wounds—archrival Gervonta Davis‘ name popped up into the list.

Stevenson kicked off this year’s campaign at the Kingdom Arena last week. Scheduled to face Floyd Schofield, the Newark southpaw had to settle with Josh Padley‘s challenge. Under frequent criticism, Shakur Stevenson segued from the so-called ‘boring’ style to clinch a ninth-round early stoppage. With the second WBC title defense done, Stevenson is now poised for the next challenge. Two days from now, Gervonta Davis takes his turn to defend the WBA lightweight belt from Lamont Roach Jr. The back-and-forth for a mega showdown between Stevenson and Davis has been going on for some time. To find his fierce rival finding a place in a coveted lineup couldn’t have caused more hurt.

Shakur Stevenson: P4P – Plummeting, losing worth

“Who do you think deserves to be higher or lower ❓” Asking the question, ‘The Ring’ magazine shared a list. It featured the current top ten pound-for-pound boxers in the world. Beginning with 2024’s ‘Fighter of The Year’ Award recipient, Oleksandr Usyk, the list had Naoya Inoue, Terence Crawford, and the newly crowned light heavyweight undisputed champion Dmitry Bivol in the top four positions.

Artur Beterbiev held the fifth place. Gervonta Davis came eighth after Jesse Rodriguez and Canelo Alvarez. What’s more, even Devin Haney found a place. He stood tenth, right after bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani.

And Shakur Stevenson’s response? ” 👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾.” It appears his disappointment vibed with some of the users who felt that his name should have been included. But that doesn’t mean the detractors failed to make their voices heard.

Some of the users highlighted they were unhappy with the way Shakur Stevenson fought against Josh Padley. The Yorkshire-born fighter, who works as a part-time electrician, joined the fray at the eleventh hour. Meaning he barely had time for a fight camp. So under such circumstances, Stevenson should have wound up the fight much earlier, many believed.

The ‘Tank’ War

Instead, it wasn’t until the ninth round that Stevenson squared things up. Invariably, the fight drew some scathing responses. Gervonta Davis laughed it out wholeheartedly. But keeping aside their frequent wranglings, talks for a clash between Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta still waver between optimism and doubt.

After the Padley fight, Stevenson said, “Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. I think that’s the biggest fight in boxing. Me and him can make the most money if we make this fight happen, so let’s do it.” Even HE Turki Alalshikh expressed hopes that someday Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta Davis get around to a fight.

But the problem is that Gervonta Davis has largely remained noncommittal to a big showdown. Especially with strong hints of year-end retirement, fans eagerly want to know whether ‘Tank’ will fight Shakur Stevenson or not. Ahead of the Roach Jr. fight, at the media workout, Davis shared that he hoped for three fights this year. Any chance for a Shakur fight?

What about you? Do you think only a win over Gervonta Davis will finally elevate Shakur Stevenson to P4P greatness?