Shakur Stevenson is tired of being the only one expected to pack on the pounds. The former lightweight champion recently addressed the constant pressure to jump to welterweight for fights against Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney, making it clear he isn’t interested in moving up to 147.
“I’m not a 147-pounder. I’m actually a lot smaller than them guys,” Shakur Stevenson said during an Instagram Live with Showbizz the Adult.
Shakur has spent most of his career as the bigger man. Even going back to the Olympics, he looked physically larger than his opponents. In the 2016 final against Robeisy Ramirez, he had the height and reach, and it was noticeable. That didn’t change when he turned pro. At featherweight, he often had the same look. Longer, rangier, in control of distance. That’s why the reaction now is different.
“Why am I the only fighter that y’all want to fight at 135, 140, and 147? Why not ask them to fight at 122, 126, and 130?” Shakur said.
Stevenson is trying to turn the argument around, bringing smaller divisions into it and pointing toward fighters like Naoya Inoue as an example of how the expectation sounds the other way.
That comparison doesn’t really help him. Inoue has been moving up and dealing with bigger fighters as he goes. Stevenson is being asked to do that now, and he’s not ready to take that step.
“Ryan said he’ll go to 144 and fight me, then he said 140, so I’m like, okay, I’m down with it,” Shakur said. “Devin fought at 144, so I’m like, we can meet in the middle. Since Conor Benn put a rehydration clause on Eubank, I’m like, I’m smaller, let’s go to 147 then.”
He’ll take Garcia or Haney, but only at weights that make sense to him. If they have to come down to get there, that’s fine. Moving up and dealing with naturally bigger fighters isn’t.
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Last Updated on 2026/04/15 at 11:04 PM
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