{"id":615643,"date":"2026-04-18T19:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615643\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:16:07","slug":"gervonta-davis-and-shakur-stevenson-both-called-out-by-world-champion-at-140","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615643\/","title":{"rendered":"Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson both called out by world champion at 140"},"content":{"rendered":"

A current world champion is targeting a \u2018viral\u2019 unification match with Shakur Stevenson<\/a>, while also calling out Gervonta Davis<\/a> for a voluntary title defence.<\/p>\n

Stevenson became the WBO super-lightweight champion in January, dethroning Teofimo Lopez with a wide unanimous decision victory at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

In doing so, the 28-year-old cemented himself as a four-division world champion but has since expressed an interest in moving back down to 135lbs.<\/p>\n

Davis, meanwhile, has not fought since March 2025, back when he defended his WBA world lightweight title with a controversial draw against Lamont Roach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since then, the 31-year-old has been stripped of his belt and instated as WBA \u2018champion in recess\u2019, partly because of his arrest warrant for domestic violence charges.<\/p>\n

But while Davis could potentially defend his title upon returning to the sport, there is equally a chance that he rematches Isaac Cruz<\/a> at 140lbs.<\/p>\n

Should he become available at the weight, then WBA champion Gary Antuanne Russell would gladly offer \u2018Tank\u2019 a world title opportunity.<\/p>\n

Equally, the 29-year-old has told MillCity Boxing<\/a> that he hopes to unify the super-lightweight division against Stevenson in what he envisions being a \u201cviral\u201d showdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would go viral. If it\u2019s not [Stevenson], it gotta be another name \u2013 a \u2018Tank\u2019 coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t forget I\u2019m right here, \u2018Tank\u2019. You know how many people been wanting to see me and \u2018Tank\u2019 rumble, or my brother [Gary Russell Jr] rumble [with] \u2018Tank\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell unanimously outpointed mandatory challenger Andy Hiraoka in February, meaning he is due a voluntary defence of his WBA title.<\/p>\n

Davis, however, could become an unrealistic option if he chooses to return at 135lbs, where No.1 contender Floyd Schofield has lobbied the WBA<\/a> to either order his fight with \u2018Tank\u2019 or grant him a vacant title shot. Report suggest that \u2018Tank\u2019 may well move up to 140 on his comeback, with a rematch against Isaac Cruz already mentioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A current world champion is targeting a \u2018viral\u2019 unification match with Shakur Stevenson, while also calling out Gervonta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-615643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}