Shakur Stevenson’s Strategic Move To Trap Tank Davis

Shakur Stevenson sent a message today, letting ‘The Face of Boxing’ Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis know that he’s not going to play A-side games, and he knows he’s the B-side in negotiations with him. Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) says he just wants to make the fight.

Payday Pursuit

This is a strategic move by WBC lightweight champion Shakur. He tells the media that he’s not looking to get a “50-50” deal, and he knows he’s the B-side. Shakur is trying to trap Tank Davis by making him seem weak in the eyes of the fans and the media.

Stevenson is trying to get the fans and media to help put pressure on Gervonta to shame him into a fight. It’s a clever trick, but it shows Shakur’s desperation to get unification and, more importantly, the payday.

In the same interview, Stevenson said this about Tank: “That’s the fight that’s going to get me paid a lot.” He’d been asked if he would be interested in fighting his friend, Keyshawn Davis, but said he’s focused on Tank Davis because it will pay him “a lot.”

That’s why Shakur has been hounding Gervonta night and day for a fight. He wants the payday, and he won’t see the same kind of money fighting anyone else at lightweight. Moreover, he could get beat if he faced someone with power who could reach his chin. All that talking from Shakur about wanting to fight Tank Davis to prove who is the best when the reality is he just sees him as someone to give him a big payday.

That’s why he’s in such a hurry and has been hounding Gervonta nonstop for a fight since 2023. He wants the money and is unwilling to earn it by fighting a rematch with Edwin De Los Santos or taking on his friend, Keyshawn Davis, or Andy Cruz. Instead of earning the Tank Davis fight, Shakur has been using the round-the-clock method of calling him out in every interview to push him.

“I’m not going to act like I’m the A-side or I deserve 50-50. Let’s negotiate. Let’s see where it goes from there,” said Shakur Stevenson to Shawn Porter’s YouTube site, letting Gervonta Davis know that he’s not going to try to get the upper hand in the negotiations for a fight. “I know I’m the B-side, but let’s fight,” said Stevenson about Tank Davis.