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Will beating Teofimo Lopez be enough to get Shakur Stevenson into the P4P top five?

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Image: Eddie Hearn's Determined Push for Shakur Stevenson vs. Gervonta Davis, Even as Stevenson Seems to Concede Defeat

Teofimo on 140

Lopez’s 140-pound titles came against Josh Taylor, who was coming off a questionable victory over Jack Catterall and has now lost three fights in a row. Teofimo narrowly defeated Taylor by a 12-round unanimous decision and didn’t look good in his last fight against Arnold Barboza Jr. in May last year.

Lopez did not show the same level of performance at welterweight as he did at 135, when he had a size advantage over his opponent.

“Choose this fight to challenge yourself. Dare to be great and I will do it. The only path to true greatness is to take high risks. These moments will turn me into a legend, let’s do it! #ShakurTeofimo,” Shakur Stevenson said on the show X about the title fight with Teofimo Lopez

“For me and my family, I want to eat forever. That’s for sure, there’s no doubt about it,” Shakur told Breadkfast Club 105.1 about the money he will receive for fighting Teofimo Lopez on January 31.

“I think it would take me to a whole different level,” Stevenson said of how a win over Teofimo would impact his career. “In this case, pound for pound after I beat Teo, you put me in the top five.”

What victory really means

Beating Teofimo wouldn’t take Shakur’s career to a “completely different level” in the true sense of the word. It would be superficial smoke and mirrorsfighting a guy who looks like a shell of the fighter he once was since moving up to 140 pounds.

Die-hard fans who follow the sport closely and scrutinize the competition like Nation Vegas does can easily spot that Lopez hasn’t been fighting at his best since coming up to welterweight. Turki Alalshikh would really do the fans a favor if he insisted that Shakur fight Gary Antuanne Russell or Subriel Matias. These two have 140-pound belts and are fighting at a high level.

“I feel Teo should be undisputed. The guy is talented and will be one of the best players on my CV,” Stevenson said of Lopez.

Shakur talks about how Teofimo defeated WBA/WBO/WBC Franchise Lightweight Champion Vasily Lomachenko in 2020 and was given no credit for being the undisputed champion. He did not win the regular WBC 135-pound belt, which was then held by Devin Haney.

Did Lopez slip?

It wouldn’t have mattered if Teofimo had gone undisputed five years ago. The reality is that he doesn’t look like the same fighter since moving up to 140 pounds in 2021. Lopez lost to George Kambosos, who was involved in two controversial decisions against Jamaine Ortiz and Sandor Martin.

Better tests on 140

More importantly, Teofimo chose not to fight these high-level fighters for some reason:

  • Ernesto Mercado
  • Gary Antuanne Russell
  • Richardson Hitchins
  • Albert Puello
  • Subriel Mathias
  • Keyshawn Davis

That doesn’t make Shakur worthy of a top-five pound-for-pound ranking if he beats Teofimo. He didn’t show that he was one of the best in the welterweight division because he chose not to fight top fighters.

Lopez’s selection of Pedro Campa, Sandor Martin, Josh Taylor, Arnold Barboza Jr. and Steve Claggett suggests that he protected his career by facing lesser threats. If Shakur wants to be added to the P4P list, he should focus on fighting against the above list of untouchable players, starting with Ernesto Mercado. Let’s see how Shakur handles him.

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Davies vs Collins & Heaney vs Warburton II Results: Full Fight Recap

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"Davies vs Collins & Heaney vs Warburton II Results: Full Fight Recap"

World Boxing News provides results and updates as Liam Davies faces Nathaniel Collins in the main event at bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham.

Davies and Collins collide over 12 rounds for the EBU European featherweight title at the top of the Queensberry Promotions card.

Luke McCormack faces Kay Prospere for the vacant British super lightweight title, while Bradley Goldsmith takes on Amir Abubaker for the IBF International middleweight title.

WBN provides results and updates from every bout as they happen.


Results

All times are local BST.

23:11

Gerome Warburton defeated Nathan Heaney for the second time running as the middleweight put an exclamation mark on his first victory.

Heaney walks away from the sport having been an entertainer through a long carer, without reaching the heights of a world title.

22:04

Liam Davies improved to 19-1 after Nathaniel Collins retired at the end of the seventh round due to a cut over his right eye. Collins had also been dropped in the opening round as Davies successfully defended the European featherweight title.

21:22

Bradley Goldsmith improved to 17-1 with a seventh-round stoppage of Amir Abubaker to retain his IBF International middleweight title. Abubaker went down in the fourth and three times in the seventh before the finish at 2:42.

20:10

Lewis Richardson improved to 3-0 with a shutout six-round points victory over Ivan Trofimovich, earning a 60-54 decision.

19:56

Luke McCormack moved to 6-0 and claimed the vacant British super lightweight title with a tenth-round knockout of Kay Prospere, who was counted out after a right uppercut at 1:28.

18:55

Michael Hussain moved to 5-0 with a four-round points victory over Nabil Ahmed, earning a 39-38 decision.

18:11

Nelson Birchall moved to 12-0 with a third-round stoppage of Lewis Morris, who went down before the finish came at 1:12. Lasha Guruli also remained unbeaten at 5-0 after edging Hughie Wilson 77-75 over eight rounds.

17:22

Early action saw John Tom Varey and Reese Lynch claim four-round victories to move to 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.


TV Coverage

DAZN provides full worldwide coverage.

Follow WBN’s live boxing coverage throughout the event.


About the Author

Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.

Read Phil Jay’s full bio and latest stories.

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Janibek Alimkhanuly Shifts Perspective on Hamzah Sheeraz: A New Dynamic in Boxing

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"Janibek Alimkhanuly Shifts Perspective on Hamzah Sheeraz: A New Dynamic in Boxing"

Janibek Alimkhanuly spent months trying to get Hamzah Sheeraz into the ring. Now that Sheeraz has vacated his WBO super middleweight title, Janibek is asking fans to stop saying the former champion ran from him. That is generous. It also leaves Janibek with less to say about a fight he wanted badly.

Janibek’s tone has changed since the purse bid. He was eager to fight, said money was not his priority, and publicly pushed Sheeraz to accept. Queensberry then bid $1,001,809 to stage the ordered defense, beating Top Rank’s $820,000 offer. Sheeraz’s 75 percent share would have been roughly $751,000. Days later, he gave up the belt.

That sequence deserves a closer look. Queensberry put a serious number on the fight, so the bid itself cannot be dismissed as proof that nobody valued it. But winning the right to promote a title defense means little to fans when the champion vacates before it happens.

Sheeraz has objected to Janibek receiving a mandatory shot after his failed drug test. He is entitled to explain that position. Fans are equally entitled to ask why the issue reached a purse bid before he surrendered the title. Janibek’s post supplies no answer.

Perhaps Janibek sees no benefit in branding Sheeraz a coward. Doing so would also make the opponent he chased sound less valuable. Calling Sheeraz a great fighter preserves the idea that this was an important contest, even after the belt and the fight slipped away.

The respect between them may be sincere. Janibek still gets no Sheeraz fight, and Sheeraz no longer has to defend his title against Janibek. A friendly photo does not change either result.

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Boxing 24/7 Wire

Boxing247.com is an independent boxing news publication covering the sport since 2001. It provides original reporting, fight analysis, schedules, results, and informed coverage of major fighters and events worldwide, backed by more than 25 years of professional boxing journalism.

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Virginia Confirms Decision to Erase Prichard Colón Loss from Records

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Virginia Confirms Decision to Erase Prichard Colón Loss from Records

Virginia has given World Boxing News its final answer on whether Prichard Colón’s last professional defeat can still be challenged, bringing an end to WBN’s long fight to have the result annulled and removed from his record.

WBN has pursued the possibility of changing the controversial disqualification defeat to Terrel Williams, with those efforts continuing following Colón’s death at age 33.

Virginia’s Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation previously explained that a decision can only be overturned if there is proven collusion, a scorecard error, or a regulatory violation that affected the result.

WBN pressed Eric Beidel, Communications & Digital Media Manager for the Department of Professional & Occupational Regulation, on whether any avenue remained to challenge the decision.

“And on that final question … as mentioned before, a decision can only be overturned if there is proven collusion, a scorecard error, or a regulatory violation that affected the results,” Beidel graciously responded after providing WBN with transparent answers throughout the investigation.

“In addition, a complaint about a regulatory violation must be filed within three years of the alleged violation.”

The Colón-Williams fight took place on October 17, 2015, meaning that deadline expired years ago.

Virginia Closes Appeal Route

Virginia’s response also addressed whether the result could instead be challenged through an appeal.

“The Administrative Process Act (APA) does create appeal rights to case decisions, but because DPOR never received a complaint in this instance, there was no case or decision that could be appealed under the APA.”

The deadline for filing a complaint about a regulatory violation has expired, while the absence of an original complaint means there is no case decision available to appeal under the APA.

For WBN, Virginia’s response ends a long fight to have the defeat annulled and removed from Colón’s professional record.

Premier Boxing Champions | PBC on NBC

WBN’s Fight for Prichard Colón

It is no secret that WBN and Prichard were close before the most tragic night of his career ended all contact and left us on the outside for the years leading up to his death.

That never stopped WBN from reporting on Prichard, campaigning for change and hoping lessons from what happened to him could help prevent another fighter and family from enduring the same tragedy.

Virginia’s final response may end WBN’s attempts to have the result changed, but it does not end our commitment to Prichard.

Prichard Colón will not be forgotten.

WBN will continue to keep his name alive whenever and wherever possible with the WBN Boxer Pageand push to ensure his fight for life and everything that happened in its aftermath are never allowed to simply disappear from boxing’s memory.

This investigation ends here, but Prichard’s story does not.


About the Author

Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.

Read Phil Jay’s full bio and latest stories.

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