{"id":695380,"date":"2026-07-16T19:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695380\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T19:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:45:09","slug":"shakur-stevenson-responds-to-former-world-champion-who-says-hes-fighting-him-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695380\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakur Stevenson responds to former world champion who says he&#8217;s fighting him next"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/shakur-stevenson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shakur Stevenson<\/a>\u2019s move to Zuffa Boxing has shaken up the world of boxing, but now the pound-for-pound star has offered his response to a call-out from the opponent who he had been rumoured to face upon his debut with Dana White\u2019s promotion.<\/p>\n<p>The unbeaten star has been linked to a clash with WBO welterweight world champion Devin Haney throughout 2026, but it seems as though \u2018The Dream\u2019 may instead proceed with a showdown against mandatory challenger Keyshawn Davis.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/boxing\/news\/shakur-stevenson-zuffa-boxing-signing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Stevenson\u2019s move to Zuffa Boxing<\/a> saw him tipped for an \u2018in-house\u2019 fight in his first appearance with the rapidly-expanding outfit, with former WBA super-lightweight world champion Jose \u2018El Rayo\u2019 Valenzuela being the man linked as an opponent.<\/p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ShakurStevenson\/status\/2076851091962995035?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">X<\/a>, Valenzuela welcomed the Newark southpaw to Zuffa Boxing whilst simultaneously announcing himself as the 29-year-old\u2019s \u2018tune up fight\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWelcome to Zuffa Shakur, I\u2019m your tune up fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Quick to respond, Stevenson immediately shut down those whispers, instantly informing Valenzuela that he would not be getting such an opportunity and distancing himself from that proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">No you\u2019re notttt lol I have to go say yes remember that <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yTlZMFVigE\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/yTlZMFVigE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ShakurStevenson\/status\/2076851091962995035?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo you\u2019re notttt, LOL, I have to go say yes, remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/shakur-stevenson-rules-out-one-man\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stevenson has also denied to publicly deny any possibility of Valenzuela being his next dance partner<\/a>, declaring that his Zuffa deal will not restrict him from fights with non-Zuffa fighters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m turning the fight down publicly right now just in case that they do come to the table and say, \u2018Oh, we want to fight Rayo.\u2019 Shakur will not be fighting Rayo. That will not be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Stevenson remains hopeful that the Haney clash could take place next, with the latter having agreed to his suggestion of a 144lb catchweight affair.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shakur Stevenson\u2019s move to Zuffa Boxing has shaken up the world of boxing, but now the pound-for-pound star&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-695380","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\/695380","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=695380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}