Shakur Stevenson Calls Out Lomachenko, Despite Lackluster Performance and Expiring Contract

WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson called out Vasily Lomachenko after his victory over Artem Harutyunyan at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

(Courtesy: Mikey Williams/Top Position)

Although Shakur’s contract with Top Rank ended with his twelve-round unanimous decision against Harutyunyan (13-2, 7 KOs), he still wants to fight IBF champion Lomachenko, who is promoting him. That’s not going to happen, especially now.

He was cheated by the home crowd

Shakur put on another incredible performance Saturday night and was cheered on by his hometown fans at the Prudential Center. Showing how close he is, Shakur blamed Harutyunyan, saying he was “running” and trying to “survive.”

Abdullah Mason stole the show

Shakur won the decision with scores of 119-109, 118-110, and 116-112. It wasn’t fun to watch, and Shakur was a big reason. The fighter who impressed the fans tonight was the lightweight Abdullah Mason (14-0, 12 KOs), who destroyed Luis Lebron with a third-round knockout on the undercard and looked outstanding.

Fans on social media believe Shakur is just looking for a payday for Lomachenko and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. None of these guys want to fight him, and the boos from Shakur’s fans didn’t help his case.

Backfire Tactic Shirt

The t-shirt Shakur wore at tonight’s post-fight press conference showed just how desperate and bitter he is about not getting the fight against Vasily Lomachenko. The text on Shakur’s T-shirt read, ‘Bob [Arum] he saves his son [Vasily Lomachenko] from this.’

“That’s the message. Tell him to fight me,” said Shakur about wanting to fight Lomachenko next. “Wouldn’t that be a fun fight? Someone came in and tried to win. It’s a fun battle to do. Technically it’s good.”

Lomachenko will not fight Shakur because there is no money in the game, and he does not want his game to be booed by the fans. That would be bad for Loma’s image to be a part of the battle played by the fans. Obviously, it’s old hat for Shakur to face boos, but not Lomachenko.

“There are probably a lot of people right now who are saying, ‘Lomachenko will beat him. He did not stop this boy.’ Most people probably won’t believe me. So, why not fight? No, he doesn’t want to fight,” said Shakur.

“This boy rejected me many times. That guy doesn’t want to fight me,” Shakur said of William Zepeda.