{"id":709283,"date":"2026-06-02T04:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/709283\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T04:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:33:08","slug":"shakur-stevenson-signs-with-zuffa-boxing-haney-still-a-rumor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/709283\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakur Stevenson Signs With Zuffa Boxing, Haney Still a Rumor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shakur Stevenson has joined Zuffa Boxing, a move confirmed on Monday by Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, who previously worked with the junior welterweight champion. The signing makes Stevenson the highest-profile American fighter to align with the TKO-backed promotion since it launched in January. Devin Haney, by contrast, remains tied to Zuffa only through speculation, with no contract confirmed by the fighter or the company.<\/p>\n

Zuffa Boxing, run by UFC president Dana White and financed in part through Saudi Arabia\u2019s Turki Alalshikh and Sela, and TKO, staged its first card in January 2026 and has since assembled a roster reported at close to 100 fighters. Earlier signings include cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia, Richardson Hitchins, Edgar Berlanga and Conor Benn, whose departure from Matchroom in February was reported to be worth $15 million for a single bout before he agreed to a multi-fight extension. The promotion runs a regular card schedule modeled on the UFC.<\/p>\n

Stevenson\u2019s Move<\/p>\n

The deal was first reported by Sports Illustrated<\/a>, whose senior writer Chris Mannix wrote in early May that Stevenson was finalizing terms with Zuffa after leaving Top Rank and testing free agency.<\/p>\n

Stevenson, 28, is 25-0 with 11 knockouts and holds the WBO and The Ring junior welterweight titles, which he won by decision over Teofimo Lopez at Madison Square Garden on January 31.<\/p>\n

White addressed the Mannix report at the Zuffa Boxing 06 post-fight press conference on May 10. Asked whether the promotion had announced Stevenson, White replied \u201cNo? Possibly,\u201d and said he expected the rest of the sport to sign with Zuffa eventually.<\/p>\n

Hearn gave the clearest confirmation on Monday, telling Fight Hub TV that \u201cShakur signed with Zuffa.\u201d Hearn questioned how the promotion would match Stevenson against credible opponents while paying purses he said were roughly five times the rest of the market, and he predicted the spending model would not be sustainable. He raised the idea of Zuffa paying $15 million for a bout with O\u2019Shaquie Foster as an example of what he viewed as a mismatch between purse and opponent.<\/p>\n

Zuffa Boxing has not issued a formal announcement. The promotion has tended to confirm its larger signings at its events.<\/p>\n

The Haney Question<\/p>\n

The Haney speculation began with a social media post from his father and manager, Bill Haney, who wrote on X in early May, \u201cNew deal worth over 100 million before 30 years old?\u201d He did not name a promotion. Devin Haney, an undefeated three-division champion and the WBO welterweight titleholder, has been a free agent since leaving Matchroom, and his camp has acknowledged that his purse expectations outgrew that arrangement.<\/p>\n

White referenced Haney alongside Stevenson at the same May press conference, repeating that he expected most of the sport to end up at Zuffa. Former champion Tim Bradley said on his YouTube channel that he believes the reported nine-figure figure is genuine, citing Zuffa\u2019s willingness to outspend rivals. Teofimo Lopez was skeptical, telling FightHype the reported number was false and that he doubted any promotion would pay that much.<\/p>\n

Haney has stayed cryptic in public, answering questions about the reported deal with brief posts rather than detail. As of Monday, no opponent, contract terms or promotional company had been confirmed for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shakur Stevenson has joined Zuffa Boxing, a move confirmed on Monday by Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, who previously…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-709283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}