Shakur Stevenson is tired of being the only one expected to pack on the pounds. The former lightweight champion recently addressed the constant pressure to jump to welterweight for fights against Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney, making it clear he’s not interested in moving up to 147.
“I’m not a 147 pounder. I’m actually a lot smaller than those guys,” Shakur Stevenson said during an Instagram Live with Showbizz the Adult.
Shakur spent most of his career as the bigger man. Even back to the Olympics, he looked physically bigger than his opponents. In the 2016 final against Robeisy Ramirez, he had the height and reach, and it was noticeable. That didn’t change when he turned pro. At featherweight he often had the same look. Longer, better, in control of distance. That’s why the reaction is different now.
“Why am I the only fighter you want to fight at 135, 140 and 147? Why don’t they ask to fight at 122, 126 and 130?” Shakur said.
Stevenson tries to turn the argument around, bringing smaller divisions into it and pointing to fighters like Naoya Inoue as an example of how the expectation sounds the other way around.
That comparison doesn’t really help him. Inoue has already moved up and dealt with bigger fighters. Stevenson is now being asked to do so, and he is not ready to take that step.
“Ryan said he’d go to 144 and fight me, then he said 140, so I’m like, okay, I’m down with it,” Shakur said. “Devin fought at 144, so I think we can meet in the middle. Since Conor Benn put a rehydration clause on Eubank, I’m like I’m smaller, let’s go to 147 then.”
He’ll take Garcia or Haney, but only at weights that make sense to him. If they have to come down to get there, that’s fine. Moving up and dealing with naturally bigger fighters is not.
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Last updated on 2026/04/15 at 23:04
