Gervonta Davis’ assistant coach, Kenny Ellis, says that IBF lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko will step aside to allow Tank to face WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson next. Lomachenko would then face the Tank vs. Shakur fight winner in early 2025.
Ellis’s report of Lomachenko volunteering to step aside hasn’t been verified yet, but it would be a great move if he does. Let Tank and Shakur fight and face the winner with three belts at stake.
Why Tank vs. Shakur Makes Sense
It’s a good idea to have the Tank-Shakur fight happen as soon as possible because Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) looks highly vulnerable and would likely lose if he’s matched against a good contender instead of the carefully selected opponents Top Rank has setting him up with.
If Shakur’s next promoters match him against a good contender like William Zepeda or Abdullah Mason, he’ll likely lose, and that would wreck the lucrative mega-fight between him and Tank Davis.
Shakur’s Recent Struggles
What we’ve seen in Shakur’s last two fights is that he was never as good as the hype behind him. It’s obvious now that the match-making that was done on his behalf tricked many fans into believing he was a great talent.
Shakur looked bang-average last Saturday night, struggling to beat fringe contender Artem Harutyunyan in their headliner on ESPN at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Although the scores were wide in Shakur’s favor, it appeared that Harutyunyan had won four rounds. The judges scored it 119-109, 118-110, and 116-112. Harutyunyan’s previous opponent, Frank Martin, looked better at defeating him than Shakur.
“Breaking news: Lomachenko said he will step aside and let Gervonta Davis fight Shakur Stevenson this fall, and he’ll fight the winner in early 2025,” said Coach Kenny Ellis on Instagram.
Lomachenko’s Strategic Calculation
Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) would be better to wait until the smoke clears from a unification fight between Tank and Shakur because it would be a bigger match for him to face the last man standing.