Shakur Stevenson's Manager Opens Talks with DAZN After Zuffa Split
Jay Prince says he's exploring options with DAZN for Shakur Stevenson's return fight and denies a rumored $7 million offer was ever on the table.
Shakur Stevenson's manager Jay Prince is in exploratory talks with DAZN about the former champion's next fight, per comments Prince made to Fight Hub TV, as reported by Boxing News 24.
Prince said Stevenson is targeting a return to the ring early next year after splitting from Zuffa Boxing. He framed the split as a fight-making issue rather than a financial one, saying purses and terms had been agreed upon. "It's just getting opponent," Prince told Fight Hub TV.
Prince also denied a rumor that Stevenson turned down a $7 million purse to face Rayo Valenzuela. "Never was discussed with me. And if it was discussed, I would be the first to know," he said.
The Devin Haney superfight that both camps had circled for months collapsed, according to Prince. He blamed Bill Haney for killing the deal by pushing to move the fight up to 147 pounds. Prince denied that a dehydration clause was the sticking point: "No dehydration clause. We agreed at 45." He said Stevenson trained for the fight before it fell apart. The two camps see the situation differently.
With Zuffa Boxing in the rearview and the Haney fight dead, Prince said the team turned to other options. DAZN, which recently signed Haney to an exclusive multi-fight deal, is now in the conversation for Stevenson as well. No opponent or date has been finalized.
Here's the interesting thing about Shakur landing at DAZN: Haney is already there. If both guys are on the same platform, the excuses for not making that fight dry up fast. DAZN would love nothing more than to book Stevenson vs Haney as an in-house superfight.
But first, Shakur has to actually fight. He's been out of the ring for almost a year now. The talent has never been in question, but the inactivity is becoming a pattern, and patterns like that cost fighters their prime years. Get the deal done, get a date, and get back in there. The rest sorts itself out.
