Shakur Stevenson joined the Ariel Helwani show to talk about his recent signing with Zuffa and what that means for his career going forward, including where he stands as the WBO super lightweight champion. Shakur shares some more thoughts and details on this new chapter of his career below.
Shakur on signing with Zuffa and whether he fielded other offers
“Really I didn’t talk to too many promoters but I talked to DAZN and DAZN kind of offered me a big ass deal, to be honest with you. But they kind of came too late, and I think when they came too late it kind of messed
things up but it could’ve been either or, but they definitely offered a big ass deal, too.”
On what cards he’ll appear on
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be on Ring cards and Zuffa cards. It just depends. Dana and Nick is with Turki so just as Conor Benn was able to fight on a Ring card, I should be able to do the same.”
On whether he’s still WBO champion
“Yeah, for right now. I mean, I don’t know how the WBO feel about it. I would hope they feel good, I appreciate everything they did for me. So if they not trippin’ and they want me to continue holding their belt, I’m down to continue holding and defending my title however it go. But it’s all on them, however they feel.
“I’ll fight for a Zuffa belt, WBO, the IBF, the WBA — I just won’t fight for the WBC. I don’t want to fight for their belt. I’m cool, I don’t want it.”
On when he’s expected to debut for Zuffa
“I’m thinking like around October…They want Devin [as the opponent]. They want Devin as far as I know, and if they want Devin, I’m down…144 is what we talked about.
“I won’t say I signed [a specific contract to fight Haney] but I definitely verbally agreed to be fighting in October and I told them put my part down.”
