Shakur Stevenson Parts Ways with Zuffa Boxing, Without Having a Single Fight Under Their Banner

This is a serious blow to Dana White's Zuffa, in its inaugural year in boxing promotions. Signing American superstar Stevenson in July was a major coup for the company, and demonstrated that they were serious about taking on the existing promoters, and taking over boxing itself.

Zuffa promised big fights for Shakur but it couldn't deliver, and he wasn't prepared to wait around.

Attempts to make a catchweight fight with fellow pound-for-pounder, Devin Haney, who holds the WBO belt in the welterweight division above, ran into trouble when Haney signed directly with DAZN. Zuffa has a contract with Paramount.

Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn showed that it's possible to air a boxing event on both platforms - but only when the fighters are from different geographies. Paramount had the exclusive TV rights in the Americas, while DAZN showed the match in the UK and Ireland. 

Since both Shakur and Devin are US boxers, this kind of arrangement doesn't work.

But when Zuffa struggled to find a different opponent for Stevenson, they reopened negotiations with Haney, despite the problem with rival broadcasters.

This time the match fell apart over weight demands. Stevenson said that after initially agreeing to fight at 144 lbs, Devin then insisted on 145 and then 147. Shakur accused Haney's team of wasting everyone's time. Haney said Stevenson was trying to impose an unacceptable rehydration clause.

The other potential opponent for Stevenson's debut under Zuffa was the WBA super lightweight champion, Gary Antuanne Russell. But Zuffa claimed he priced himself out of it. Now, if the reports that he was asking for $3 million are true, this suggests Zuffa may be scaling back the amount of money they're willing to pay to make big fights happen.

When they first entered the scene, they were splurging incredible sums to poach stars like Jai Opetaia, Conor Benn and Johnny Fisher from rival promoters. It really looked like they had the money to back up their promise to take over boxing.

As if the partnership between the UFC's Dana White, TKO and Paramount wasn't powerful enough, they were joined by Saudi Arabian sports and entertainment giants, Sela, and the GEA, run by Turki Al-Sheikh.

I'm wondering if the Saudis are now preoccupied by events back home, due to the situation in the Persian Gulf. The oil-dependent kingdom is facing a severe threat to its economy given the loss of control of some of its main export channels. So perhaps Zuffa's access to Saudi funding is no longer assured?

But what next for Shakur Stevenson? He hasn't fought since January, when he outclassed Teofimo Lopez. Becoming a free agent may make the big fights he wants easier to make, but there's no guarantee of that. The important thing is for him to stay busy.