Junior lightweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson has made it abundantly clear that he wants a fight against Oscar Valdez next, no questions about it. But for his Top Rank promoter, Bob Arum, he sort of has other ideas about how he’d like to stage Stevenson’s next move, telling Sky Sports that he’d like to put together a couple of fights and have the winners meet.
“I want Valdez to fight Emanuel Navarrete, and to match Shakur against maybe Berchelt, who Valdez beat in a spectacular fight. We’d see how Shakur does with Berchelt, then we can match the winners. I think that’s the way to go. That’s what we will suggest to them.”
Arum says his current plan is to have Stevenson, Miguel Berchelt, and Oscar Valdez all back in the ring by the upcoming spring, where he could potentially stage those fights. Then again, Arum also admits that it will ultimately be up to their fighters and their teams if they want to go along with his plans rather than force their own play.
Stevenson is most recently coming off an excellent performance, stoppage Jamal Herring to become a two-weight world champion. Valdez last took a unanimous decision over Robson Conceicao, while Berchelt hasn’t fought since getting stopped by Valdez this past February.