Shakur Stevenson is in the thick of negotiations for an all-American clash which, until recently, appeared to be dead in the water.
The pound-for-pound star is coming off a wide unanimous decision victory over Teofimo Lopez, who he dethroned to become a four-division world champion in January.
Since then, he has inked a promotional deal with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing but, even now, there is no confirmation of a date, location or opponent for his next outing.
Stevenson was, of course, reportedly set to face Manny Pacquiao on December 11, featuring on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
With that fight seemingly no longer on the table, though, the American has revisited negotiations for a unification match with WBA champion Gary Antuanne Russell.
The 30-year-old became a world super-lightweight champion by dethroning Jose Valenzuela with a unanimous decision victory, before successfully defending his title against Andy Hiraoka earlier this year.
Having been accused of rejecting perfectly reasonable offers to fight Stevenson, however, Russell has now taken to social media and expressed that the money is not quite where it needs to be.
“Shakur knows for a fact that we ain’t ducking nothing. How y’all gonna lowball and then classify that as me ducking?
“Shakur know how I’m coming and he already told the world I ain’t scared of nothing.”
Indeed, Stevenson has described Russell as a “real one” via social media and, if they square off later this year, their WBO and WBA unification would be largely well-received from a fans perspective.
