Shakur Stevenson isn’t being unclear in any respect: He needs a belt at 130, and he’s obtained Jamel Herring in his sights.
Herring (23-2, 11 KO) retained his WBO belt on Saturday, dominating Carl Frampton in Dubai. Stevenson (15-0, 8 KO) has also called out WBC titlist Oscar Valdez, who’s now seen as the actual high canine within the division, and Valdez has said he wants the fight, too.
But it surely doesn’t appear like that’s occurring. Stevenson, 23, will reportedly fight in Jeremiah Nakathila on June 12. So Stevenson now sees profitable the WBO belt as a option to power Valdez into the ring for what would then be a unification:
Congrats to hellavu perfomance @JamelHerring what’s da subsequent transfer tho champ? I would like that belt for Valdez to have a motive to battle me
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) April 3, 2021
As laid out earlier, Stevenson seems to be anything but Herring’s first choice. However Stevenson also Tweeted a photo of a WBO letter dated March 23, 2021, mandating that the Herring-Frampton winner (Herring, clearly) battle the winner of Stevenson-Nakathila. Herring could have 30 days from yesterday to “declare in writing his intention” to battle Stevenson or Nakathila, and if not he’ll should vacate, per the order. Stevenson-Nakathila, for what it’s price, is at present slated to be an interim title battle, which is silly, however interim titles usually are.
If Herring had been to vacate, Stevenson-Nakathila might be for the total WBO title, however it appears Stevenson would slightly take it from Herring than merely declare one other vacant belt, which is what he needed to do at 126 when the aforementioned Valdez moved as much as 130 as an alternative of preventing Herring, his necessary.
Stevenson is mainly begging for a giant battle proper now, and I don’t imply that in an insulting manner in any respect. It’s clear this can be a younger fighter who actually needs to battle the highest guys, to show himself past simply in-house ESPN hype and all the time passing the attention take a look at in opposition to opponents everybody expects him to beat.
