The Shakur Stevenson vs. Devin Haney saga just took another turn — and not in Shakur’s favor.
Video: Fannon International Boxing Channel
On paper, the hardest part looked done. After months of back-and-forth, both fighters publicly agreed to meet at a 145-pound catchweight. Stevenson had originally pushed for 144 pounds with a 10-pound next-day rehydration limit; Haney countered with 145 and no rehydration clause — and Stevenson accepted. Bill Haney put a date and a city on it: November 28 in Atlanta, with an offer on the table.
Then the people who actually make fights happen started talking — and none of it sounded like a man rushing to make Haney next.
Dana White, whose Zuffa Boxing signed Stevenson in a deal bankrolled by Turki Alalshikh, was asked about the November 28 target after the Contender Series and shut it down in one line: “If it was, I would have announced it.” No confirmation, no alternative date, no details. For a promoter who announces everything the second it is real, that silence said plenty.
The reported hold-up now is money. Ring insider Mike Coppinger put it bluntly on social media: “Money mostly but I believe it will get done.” Reports out of the talks describe negotiations at a critical stage just to keep the fight alive, with the purse split — not the weight — as the sticking point. Haney’s side argues Devin is the proven draw and should not have to concede an even split to a fighter whose commercial value they say is still unproven at this level.
Meanwhile, Bill Haney is saying the quiet part out loud. He told BoxingScene that the Haney camp negotiated and compromised — Devin agreeing to come down to 145 — through Turki Alalshikh’s side, and that Stevenson and his representative James Prince have since gone “quieter than church-house mouses.” His frustration post said the same: “Bro nem quiet as church mouse’s again…”
That is the bad news for Shakur. The two power brokers behind his new deal — Turki Alalshikh’s money and Dana White’s Zuffa machine — are publicly focused on everything except rushing a Haney fight across the line, his own camp has gone silent at the negotiating table, and the calendar is not waiting. November 28 is roughly six weeks out. Training camps need signed contracts, not social media agreements, and every day spent arguing over percentages makes that date less realistic.
Stevenson holds The Ring and WBO junior welterweight titles after outclassing Teofimo Lopez. Haney holds the WBO welterweight belt after dropping and outpointing Brian Norman Jr. It is one of the best technical fights that can be made in the sport — which is exactly why watching it stall over money, after the weight was already settled, is the story.
For now, the fight exists everywhere except where it counts: on a signed contract.
