WBC strips Shakur Stevenson of title: What happens now?

Despite landing the biggest win of his career last Saturday, Shakur Stevenson was handed a rude awakening on Wednesday. The world bore witness to the complete decimation of Teofimo Lopez at the hands of Shakur to claim The Ring and WBO super-lightweight titles at Madison Square Garden.

Now, only days after shocking the world, The WBC has stripped Stevenson of his lightweight world title - which he has held since November 2023, and defended three times over the last three years. 

Rightful fees or history repeating?

We saw a very similar happening with Terence Crawford only three months after his legendary bout and win against Canelo Alverez. Bud took to instagram to highlight that the WBC made their decision over “sanctioning fees” that the Omaha fighter refused to pay - citing that he was told that he owed the WBC over $400,000, while the WBO, IBF, and WBA didn’t come knocking. 

Shakur stated on X that the WBC had nothing to do with his bout against Teofimo, and that they were insisting that he paid them an extra $100,000 on top of whatever else the fighter already paid. 

Who’s next to take the mantle? 

With the title now vacant and Shakur fighting at junior welterweight,  the lightweight division has a crown open for the taking. The top five contenders in the weight class are number one ranked William Zepeda, interim champion Jadier Herrera, Lamont Roach Jr., Andy Cruz, and Sam Noakes. 

A potential matchup for the vacant title could be include Zepeda, who lost in his last bout against Shakur, and the interim champion Jadier Herrera. A battle between these two warriors would make the most sense to determine the future of the division.