Devin Haney wasn’t impressed by Shakur Stevenson’s message with a bottle.
The pair of unbeaten rising stars happened to be at the same outdoor party in Houston over the weekend, just three weeks after the two briefly shared the ring following Haney’s win over Vasiliy Lomachenko in Las Vegas. Stevenson has not been shy about his desire to next face the undisputed lightweight champion, going as far as to send over a gift to Haney along with a literal message on a display board which read, ‘Sign The Contract.’
Whatever was thought of the gesture on site, Haney was less amused once the gesture made its way to social media.
“Clown sh!t,” Haney tweeted on Monday. “Bob [Arum]… JPrince (Stevenson’s manager) & I don’t know wtf he talking bout.. just clout chasing. If it was a contract then we would go into purse bid because he’s my mandatory.
“When he really wanna fight tell his promoter. Until then, get off my d!ck.”
Haney (30-0, 15KOs) retained all four major lightweight titles and the lineal championship with a twelve-round, unanimous decision over Ukraine’s Lomachenko (17-3, 11KOs) on May 20 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Stevenson (20-0, 10KO) was ringside for the ESPN Pay-Per-View event but eventually made his way to the ring where he openly challenged the defending champ.
The effort was dismissed by Haney, although such a clash might be inevitable. Stevenson—a former WBO featherweight titlist and lineal/WBC/WBO junior lightweight champion—enjoyed a successful lightweight debut with a sixth-round knockout of Japan’s Shuchiro Yoshino in their April 8 WBC title eliminator.
Newark’s Stevenson is also part of a three-fight option that Top Rank co-founder and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum is prepared to offer Haney, whom the company co-promoted for his previous three fights.
“Finally, you speak for yourself,” Stevenson quipped to Haney on Monday, taking a shot at the Las Vegas-based champ whose father and head trainer Bill Haney normally does the talking for the two. “Bob just told the world the [three] fights he ‘bout to offer you, bruh. Let’s get active… it’s ‘bout that time.”
Haney held the WBC lightweight title since October 2019, when his reign was upgraded from interim title status. He fully unified the win with a June 5 win over unbeaten lineal/WBA/IBF/WBO champ George Kambosos on the road in Melbourne, where Haney secured a repeat win in their rematch last October 16.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox