{"id":788394,"date":"2026-10-01T09:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T09:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788394\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T09:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T09:26:08","slug":"shakur-stevenson-confirms-unification-talks-for-next-fight-he-says-hell-beat-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788394\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakur Stevenson confirms unification talks for next fight: “He says he’ll beat me\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

After rumours of showdowns with a host of major names throughout 2026, it seems as though Shakur Stevenson<\/a> may finally be on the verge of a fight announcement, having confirmed that negotiations with a fellow reigning world champion are ongoing.<\/p>\n

Stevenson got his hands on the WBO super-lightweight world title against Teofimo Lopez back in January<\/a>, rising the pound-for-pound ratings with a dominant display that had the boxing world again praising his skillset.<\/p>\n

Since then, fight fans have become frustrated by Stevenson\u2019s lack of fight news, despite links to a number of high-profile bouts in recent months after his switch to Dana White\u2019s Zuffa Boxing<\/a> back in July.<\/p>\n

Now, the American has taken to X<\/a> to reveal that negotiations for a super-lightweight title unification against WBA super-lightweight world champion Gary Antuanne Russell are currently underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cGary a real one, I been on the phone with bro since the day I called Antuanne out on twitter trying to make this fight happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both want the fight so hopefully it can get done! He say Tweezy gone beat me and I feel I\u2019m gone beat him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s get it together boxing business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary a real one I been on the phone with bro since the day I called Antuanne out on twitter trying to make this fight happen, We both want the fight so hopefully it can get done! He say Tweezy gone beat me and I feel I\u2019m gone beat him.. Let\u2019s get it together boxing business \ud83e\udd1e\ud83c\udffe<\/p>\n

\u2014 Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) September 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Russell made his first title defence against Andy Hiraoka on the Mario Barrios vs Ryan Garcia undercard back in February and the Maryland-born southpaw has been mooted for a move to Zuffa Boxing himself in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Lance Pugmire<\/a> has reported that Russell recently turned down a $1.5 million purse to take on Stevenson but maintained his willingness to face his fellow southpaw for an increased sum.<\/p>\n

Russell would be the third southpaw that Stevenson has faced in his last six fights, whilst Stevenson would represent a fourth consecutive southpaw opponent for Russell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After rumours of showdowns with a host of major names throughout 2026, it seems as though Shakur Stevenson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-788394","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\/788394","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=788394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}