While negotiations are ongoing between representatives of Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson has the opportunity to interrupt the conversation.
On Friday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” analyst and former welterweight world champion Shawn Porter said undefeated three-division champion Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) could significantly enhance the likelihood of a showdown with Davis by scoring a convincing victory on Saturday night.
In his final fight with promoter Top Rank, the 27-year-old Stevenson will face Artem Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs) of Armenia in his hometown at the Prudential Center in Newark, Modern Jersey, on ESPN.
“I know everyone’s talking about the Lomachenko-Tank Davis fight, but that fight is long gone,” Porter said, referring to Lomachenko’s age (36) and his back-to-back losses to Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney.
“Lomachenko is not the same fighter he was five years ago when everyone started talking about Lomachenko and the Tank fight. And Tank was not the fighter he was five years ago.”
That’s what makes this the perfect matchup for the careers of 29-year-old three-division champion Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) and Stevenson.
“Both of them are ready. Shakur has what it takes to beat Artem, and I expect him to look good doing it,” Porter said. “I think (Davis) is next for him.”
Davis’s enthusiasm for the Stevenson fight was overshadowed by Stevenson’s November victory over Edwin De Los Santos for the WBC lightweight title.
Porter’s analyst, former 140-pound champion Chris Algieri, said that if Stevenson is to have any hope of getting “the fight we all want,” he needs to realize that it’s about “the fight that’s coming to him … it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about how he looks.”
Algieri assessed: “I think Shakur will try to get (Harutyunyan) out of there, which would be a gigantic statement.”
Recent lightweight title challenger Frank Martin failed to defeat Harutyunyan, and their points margin was slim.
“Artem, stylistically, can make Shakur look good, and Shakur should take advantage of that opportunity because he’s in a position now where the ultimate goal of fighting ‘Tank’ Davis is within reach,” Algieri said.