Shakur Stevenson comments on Shannon Sharpe interview, discusses Zuffa Boxing signing

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 12: Shakur Stevenson celebrates after defeating William Zepeda in their WBC lightweight title fight at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on July 12, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images) | Getty Images Shakur Stevenson is the biggest signing in the short history of Zuffa Boxing, but it was an interview with Shannon Sharpe that went viral. Stevenson and Sharpe had a bit of a debate on the former NFL player’s Nightcap podcast, where things got a little bit heated as Sharpe insinuated — then flat out said it to the 25-0 boxer — that Stevenson’s style is “boring.” Things continued on with Stevenson challenging Sharpe’s boxing credibility. Shortly after his appearance on the show, Stevenson reacted to the situation. “It was an intense conversation,” Stevenson told MMA Fighting in Las Vegas. “I feel like it was an intense conversation with Unc because Unc really didn’t understand that I have more knowledge in the sport of boxing than he does and you can’t really debate boxing with me. So when you actually pay attention to the discussion, he was talking in circles. He kept bringing other things up instead of being focused on the exact thing that was talked about “But much respect to him. I wish I wouldn’t have to correct somebody of my skin color. I feel like it’s kind of crazy to me, but it is what it is.” Stevenson is thrilled with his new Zuffa Boxing deal, saying it’s a combination of game-changing money and legacy promised to him that wasn’t available anywhere else in the sport. It’s unknown who Stevenson will face in his promotional debut or when it will happen. As far as the actual signing goes, while it was made official last week, it was actually Eddie Hearn that broke the news a month prior. The 29-year-old was asked about Hearn trying to outscoop White and Zuffa Boxing. “I don’t get into the promoter beef,” Stevenson said. “Eddie’s been good to me. Eddie is my guy. Nothing but love and respect for him. But yeah, he kind of like spoiled it. He shouldn’t have never spoiled it. “I was kinda like, ‘Damn, Eddie, don’t do that.’ But, other than that, I appreciate Eddie. I got love for him, but now we over here doing business with Dana, and it’s going to be an amazing journey.

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 10: Shakur Stevenson speaks with media during the UFC 329 ceremonial weigh-in at T-Mobile Arena on July 10, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC) Shakur Stevenson joined the Ariel Helwani show to talk about his recent signing with Zuffa and what that means for his career going forward, including where he stands as the WBO super lightweight champion. Shakur shares some more thoughts and details on this new chapter of his career below. Shakur on signing with Zuffa and whether he fielded other offers “Really I didn’t talk to too many promoters but I talked to DAZN and DAZN kind of offered me a big ass deal, to be honest with you. But they kind of came too late, and I think when they came too late it kind of messed things up but it could’ve been either or, but they definitely offered a big ass deal, too.” On what cards he’ll appear on “I’m pretty sure I’ll be on Ring cards and Zuffa cards. It just depends. Dana and Nick is with Turki so just as Conor Benn was able to fight on a Ring card, I should be able to do the same.” On whether he’s still WBO champion “Yeah, for right now. I mean, I don’t know how the WBO feel about it. I would hope they feel good, I appreciate everything they did for me. So if they not trippin’ and they want me to continue holding their belt, I’m down to continue holding and defending my title however it go. But it’s all on them, however they feel. “I’ll fight for a Zuffa belt, WBO, the IBF, the WBA — I just won’t fight for the WBC. I don’t want to fight for their belt. I’m cool, I don’t want it.” On when he’s expected to debut for Zuffa “I’m thinking like around October…They want Devin [as the opponent]. They want Devin as far as I know, and if they want Devin, I’m down…144 is what we talked about. “I won’t say I signed [a specific contract to fight Haney] but I definitely verbally agreed to be fighting in October and I told them put my part down.”