Shakur Stevenson Is A Free Agent After Release Request Was Approved by Zuffa Boxing

WBO junior welterweight champion Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) announced Monday morning that he has been granted a release from Zuffa Boxing, making him officially a free agent.

In a video posted on YouTube, Stevenson stated that he had been “working his as$ off” and followed it by saying “…been in comment for like eight weeks, preparing for fights I was told was going to happen. It has not happened, but look, it is what it is.”

The real bombshell came when he stated, “Upon all of these issues and everything that has been going on, I requested to be released from Zuffa Boxing. Now, over the weekend, my request has been granted, and now I am officially a free agent. This time, I want to tell the fans and everybody that is in the public that I am now taking my career into my own hands, and I’m starting my own promotional company. I’m willing to work with other promoters and anybody else that is out there that is willing to be serious about my career, as I am about my career.”

Stevenson later added, “The mission is still the same: I want the biggest and best fights available at 135 pounds or 140 pounds where I hold my title.” He would go on to say that he would eventually move up to welterweight and to “give it a year or two.”

This move comes just three months after Zuffa Boxing announced Stevenson’s signing, one of the biggest splashes the promotional company made in its debut year. Stevenson‘s request to be released and its granting are a blow to Zuffa, as Stevenson is a pound-for-pound fighter with a high ceiling.

How does this affect Stevenson moving forward? Are there big fights at 135 for him, or will he just stay at 140? At 135, he could fight O’Shaquie Foster and Abdullah Mason; at 140, he could face big names like Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and Gary Antuanne Russell. This is an interesting move by Stevenson, as he chose to bet on himself moving forward.