NEWS: SHAKUR STEVENSON TALKS FACING JAMAINE ORTIZ

By: Jay Calderon

Since vacating his gold at 130 pounds, undefeated American Shakur Stevenson has had the toughest time trying to find someon at Lightweight willing to face him.

After he and his team struck out trying to make deals with former title-challenger Isaac Cruz and fellow unbeaten contender William Zepeda, Stevenson seemed fairly confident a bout between himself and former world champion George Kambosos could be made. However, Kambosos ultimately declined, citing a desire to take some time off after a rather busy and taxing twelve month stretch in the sport.

Making the issue tougher is that many of the other top 135 pounders are busy facing one another, with champion Devin Haney likely facing Vasyl Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis taking on Hector Garcia in January and Ryan Garcia in April, respectively.

Now, Stevenson is hoping to possibly face Jamaine Ortiz, the man most known for sending former titlist Jamel Herring into retirement in May and coming up just short against the aforementioned Lomachenko back in October.

Stevenson feels the Ortiz bout might make sense, as Ortiz proved he could hang near the top of the division. However, as Stevenson told Sky Sports, Shakur feels Ortiz would fade down the stretch.

"He did real good with Lomachenko. He just was a frontrunner. I'm not taking anything away from him. I already know he's a tough fight for whoever. He's a big 135 pounder," Stevenson said, before adding, "He's a frontrunner, I think the first six rounds he's going to start off blazing hot. Then the next six, he dies down."

Shakur also expressed that boxing fans would appreciate the fight due to Ortiz having done so well in his last few fights, particularly the Lomachenko encounter. But, Stevenson stressed, he and Lomachenko are different fighters.

"The world would like to see it just based off what he did with Lomachenko. But Lomachenko is a older guy, he's slowly going down. I'm like a young killer. It's not going to be the same type of thing if we do fight," Stevenson said.

Considering the difficulty Stevenson has had with finding a suitable opponent, Ortiz isn't the worst possible option. As Stevenson mentioned, Ortiz is a big dude for the weight and could really test just how solid a Lightweight is Stevenson.

Furthermore, it would allow for boxing fans to compare the performances between Stevenson and Lomachenko against a common opponent. While it wouldn't necessarily mean anything as that sort of "logic" doesn't work in boxing, it's something that does go into promoting and watching a fight. So, it does make it an easier sell in that respect.

Hopefully, Stevenson gets out early in 2023 and is allowed to have a productive year against the top names in the division.

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