{"id":373973,"date":"2026-01-16T21:03:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/373973\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:03:06","slug":"ryan-garcia-names-the-world-champion-with-the-best-chance-of-beating-shakur-stevenson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/373973\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Garcia names the world champion with the best chance of beating Shakur Stevenson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/ryan-garcia\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ryan Garcia<\/a> believes <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/shakur-stevenson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shakur Stevenson<\/a>\u2019s \u2018toughest matchup\u2019 could arrive after his clash with WBO super-lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez on January 31.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/47166562\/teofimo-lopez-shakur-stevenson-set-140-pound-showdown-jan-31\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The pair are gearing up to collide at Madison Square Garden in New York<\/a>, with WBC lightweight titlist Stevenson bidding to become a four-division world champion.<\/p>\n<p>His last fight, a <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/shakur-stevenson-beats-william-zepeda-by-unanimous-decision\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">unanimous decision victory over William Zepeda<\/a> in July, saw the 28-year-old deliver a comprehensive performance to retain his green and gold belt at 135lbs.<\/p>\n<p>Now, though, Stevenson is approaching what many believe to be his most dangerous assignment thus far, against an unpredictable champion who appears to boast several physical advantages.<\/p>\n<p>Sure enough, Lopez was always considered an imposing operator at 135lbs, with his most notable victory coming against Vasyl Lomachenko in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Stevenson, on the other hand, has said on multiple occasions that 140lbs could be his limit, or at least the highest weight class where he would not be compelled to contend with a tremendous size disadvantage.<\/p>\n<p>That is perhaps why Garcia views WBO welterweight champion Devin Haney, his former opponent, as the toughest potential dance partner for Stevenson.<\/p>\n<p>Haney claimed his WBO title \u2013 becoming a three-division world champion \u2013 with a dominant points victory over Brian Norman Jr in November.<\/p>\n<p>Based on this version of the 27-year-old, Garcia told Stevenson during a Ring Magazine discussion that Haney, from a stylistic and physical standpoint, would cause him more problems than Lopez.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if Shakur would lose to him, but I\u2019d say the toughest matchup would be [against] Devin Haney.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s long, he doesn\u2019t like to engage, [and] he\u2019s big. I think you\u2019d figure him out but I think that, stylistically, that\u2019s the toughest matchup for Shakur.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whether Stevenson chooses to move up to 147lbs after his fight with Lopez, it remains to be seen, but a welterweight clash with Haney would certainly be a bold move, given the natural size disparity between them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Garcia believes Shakur Stevenson\u2019s \u2018toughest matchup\u2019 could arrive after his clash with WBO super-lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-373973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}