Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis says he wants to see lightweight champions Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson meet in a unification clash if Tank chooses not to rematch Lamont Roach. IBF welterweight champion Ennis states that he views the Tank-Shakur fight as a “50-50” one.
(Credit: Melina Pizano/Matchroom)
Worthiness Questioned
Fans want to see Shakur test himself against some of the talented fighters first at 135 to show that he deserves a fight against Tank Davis. The only decent guy that Stevenson has fought since moving up to the lightweight division is Edwin De Los Santos, and he almost lost to against him in their clash in November 2023.
Shakur was running around the ring all night, being booed loudly by fans at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Since that fight, Stevenson’s promoters have matched him exclusively against weak punchers to ensure that he looked reasonably good. He’s looked poor, but not quite as bad as he did against De Los Santos.
Stevenson’s #1 challenger is 2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz, who can do everything he can but with more power. However, Cruz shares the same promoter, Eddie Hearn, at Matchroom, and he’s clearly reluctant to put them in against each other. He knows obviously that if he lets Cruz fight Shakur, he’ll wreck his vision of making a mega-fight against Tank Davis.
The Cuban Andy Cruz doesn’t speak English, and he’s not a Twitter hound like Shakur. The social media posts Shakur and his constant bragging about himself make him one of the fighters that fans want to see.
The 50-50 Fight
“I think that’s a great fight and one that should happen. Hopefully, that happens after Tank handles business in a rematch with Lamont Roach. If they don’t rematch, I think him and Shakur should fight next,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to Fighthype about wanting to see a unification clash between WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis and WBC champ Shakur Stevenson.
“That’s a great fight. I really can’t say because they’re two great fighters with a high IQ, they’re both sharp. That’s a 50-50 for me,” said Ennis when asked how he sees a fight between Shakur and Tank Davis playing out. “May the best man win. I think everybody wants to see that fight.”
Hand Troubles
Boots didn’t mention the repeated hand issues Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) has had since moving up to the 135-lb division in 2023. Stevenson, 27, already missed out on a fight against Joe Cordina last October. He needed surgery to fix that problem. It’s not just one hand that has been causing Shakur problems.
Both of them have been fragile and glass-like, which has caused him to focus on hitting with weak, single shots and then retreating. Against a big puncher like Tank Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs), Shakur’s chances of winning a decision would be slim and could be down to whether the judges assigned to the fight would be scoring it under amateur rules rather than professional. In the amateurs, it’s about fighters fencing to land shots to score points.
