Shakur Stevenson Acknowledges That Navarette Clash Would Be Big: “It Could Be Next”

It wasn’t the big-name opponent he was hoping for but Shakur Stevenson could have a mega fight on his hands sooner rather than later.

After proving that he won’t have many issues against bigger men in the lightweight division at the expense of Shuichiro Yoshino, Stevenson was hoping that one of the elites at 135 pounds would be willing to face him. Yet, due to a long list of reasons, fights against Devin Haney, Isaac Cruz, William Zepeda, and most recently, Frank Martin – simply haven’t happened.

As a consolation prize, the 26-year-old will officially take on Edwin De Los Santos on November 16th, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the vacant WBC title. De Los Santos doesn’t bring a ton of name value to the table but Stevenson appreciates him for taking the fight and not leaving him out in the cold.

At the moment, De Los Santos is the first person Stevenson thinks about in the morning and the last person that comes across his mind before he heads to bed. Still, even with Stevenson placing all of his time and energy into beating the Dominican, he sees the writing on the wall.

For the first time in a number of years, Emanuel Navarette won’t be a headliner. Instead, he’ll take an undercard slot and play second fiddle to Stevenson as the co-main event against Robson Conceicao.

Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) has heard the rumors circulating. With Top Rank, the promotional banner he fights under, needing to find an opponent that can challenge him, Navarette has been floated around as a possible future foe.

Of course, Navarette (38-1, 31 KOs) will have to move up in weight but the current WBO super featherweight champ has said on numerous occasions that he doesn’t have an issue with that.

It all seems like your typical setup. Place two fighters that are fighting in or around the same weight class on the same card, hope that they win, and match them up against one another immediately after.

Stevenson is cool with that idea. As long as it makes dollars and it’s the right opportunity, he doesn’t care who he fights.

“Seeing that Navarette is on the undercard, hopefully he can do his thing, I’m gonna do my thing and it could be a big fight next,” Stevenson told a group of reporters. “I’m willing to fight whoever, whenever. As long as the business is right, I’m ready for it.”