Ring Magazine reported that Lomachenko is now a promotional free agent and looking for the biggest fights available. Shakur’s quick repost made many fans believe he still wants the matchup despite years of failed attempts to make it happen.
The problem is that some fans believe the fight has lost much of its appeal because of Lomachenko’s age and physical decline. Lomachenko is now 38 years old, while Shakur is 28 and physically much larger than the former featherweight champion.
Lomachenko looked at his best earlier in his career at 126 pounds before moving to lightweight in 2018. Even during some of his wins at 135, fans and analysts viewed him as undersized against naturally bigger fighters.
That has become part of the criticism aimed at Stevenson after his repost. Some fans on X argued that the fight would have carried far more meaning in the 2022 to 2024 period when Lomachenko was younger and still near the top of the lightweight division.
Shakur has publicly called for the Lomachenko fight for more than four years. Early in that run, Stevenson treated the matchup as the ultimate skill fight and repeatedly challenged Lomachenko in interviews and on social media.
As the fight failed to materialize, Stevenson became more aggressive publicly, accusing Lomachenko of avoiding him and turning down opportunities to fight. Now, with Lomachenko reportedly returning as a free agent, the possibility has reopened, although many fans no longer see the fight the same way they once did.
Lomachenko has not fought since his eleventh-round stoppage win over George Kambosos Jr. in May 2024. Before that performance, many fans believed he had slipped physically in fights against Jamaine Ortiz and Devin Haney after appearing at his peak earlier in his career at featherweight.
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— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) May 12, 2026
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