Roy Jones Jr. does not do fine print. In the clip at the heart of the latest AKHi TV, Jones lays out the whole Haney-Shakur problem in one breath: if they fight for Devin Haney’s title, it happens at 147. If they fight for Shakur Stevenson’s title, it happens at 140. Haney should not have to come down, Shakur should not have to come up, and there is no middle number to hide behind. Asked about catchweights, Jones agreed they were frowned on “back in our days” — and he was just getting started.
On rehydration stipulations, Jones was blunter: “No rehydration… Forget about all that.” His logic is old-school and hard to argue with. If a man rehydrates heavy, that is his own disadvantage — he is slower and less agile for it. Jones gave away weight himself in his career. And beating a weight-drained opponent proves nothing, because the loser gets to say he was never beaten at his best. Jones put it in one line: “I didn’t really beat you. I outnegotiated you.”
AKHi’s host then explains why Jones is really talking about Shakur. Per the host, after Haney agreed to a catchweight, Shakur’s side responded by requesting a same-day weigh-in. “This dude want to change the boxing rules just to fight Devin Haney,” the host says — and claims that is when Zuffa concluded Shakur did not want the fight, or at least did not want to risk the unbeaten record. One panel voice in the clip does push back, saying he respects any fighter negotiating from what he feels. But the host’s contrast is the story: Shakur was willing to talk Manny Pacquiao at 147 and Conor Benn at 147 or 150, yet the Haney fight kept collecting conditions. The host adds that Shakur told Foster, coming up from 130, to meet him at 140 — Foster agreed — and Shakur still turned that fight down.
The host’s forecast is a mandate with Muratalla’s name on it, and a pay cut to go with it: after turning down the $7 million Rayo fight and, per the host, a lesser hometown offer after that, Shakur would be lucky to touch $7 million now. The host says he has dropped Shakur from his own pound-for-pound list. That is the cost of the conditions game. Jones’s standard is the one fans actually respect — beat a man at his best, at a real weight, or don’t claim you beat him at all. Right now, by AKHi’s telling, Shakur is negotiating like a man who would rather win the contract than the fight.
Video credit: AKHi TV.
