Shakur Stevenson was stripped of his WBC lightweight world title two weeks ago, but he may still return to the division.
Stevenson schooled Teofimo Lopez in New York to get his hands on the WBO super-lightweight world title and simultaneously become the third-youngest four-division world champion in boxing history.
However, the 28-year-old was stripped of his lightweight title during the aftermath due to an unpaid sanctioning fee – something he disagrees with given the WBC were not involved in the Lopez fight. Despite now not holding a belt at 135lbs, he has not ruled out fighting at that weight in the future.
In an interview with FightHype.com, WBC super-featherweight ruler O’Shaquie Foster proposed an offer to pay Stevenson’s fee in order for the WBC to reinstate Stevenson as their champion, but only if Stevenson is willing to give him an immediate shot at the throne.
“It is most definitely the fight that I want and that is the fight that I am trying to actively make. So, as you know, he got stripped because he didn’t want to pay the sanctioning fee.
“So, we sent them an offer, I gave him my offer – that I would pay the sanctioning fee, the $100,000 that he didn’t want to pay for the last fight. He gets reinstated as the WBC champion at 135lbs, but he has to fight me next.
“That is the offer. I will take care of the fee, but he has got to fight me next. We are waiting, we will just see if he takes it, it is a great offer.”
Of course, the sanctioning body has the final word on whether late payment of the sanctioning fee would result in the reinstatement of Stevenson as their lightweight champion, and Stevenson himself seems to have held a grudge for how things unfolded, meaning he may actively avoid competing for any WBC belts in future. A fight with Foster does intrigue him however, mainly due to bad blood from past comments.