Bill Haney went on the Tru Media Podcast and did the thing promoters do when a fight is not getting made. He announced the terms publicly and put the other side on the clock.
“There has been a challenge to their team to take the fight at 145 and a half and take it on the 28th of November in Atlanta,” he said. And: “The offer is on the table for him to fight in November.”
Seven Weeks Is the Real Issue
November 28 is Thanksgiving weekend, and it is roughly seven weeks out. That is a short camp for a fight of this size, and it is short specifically for the fighter being asked to accept rather than the one making the offer.
Devin Haney’s camp has presumably been planning around this date. Shakur Stevenson has not committed, and seven weeks to prepare for an opponent of this caliber at a catchweight is a legitimate reason to hesitate.
The weight itself is in dispute. Bill Haney said 145.5 pounds. Other reporting has suggested 144, and there have been snippets indicating the two fighters appeared to agree on social media. None of that is confirmed, and the gap between those accounts is the kind of detail that stalls negotiations for months.
The Promotional Problem Is the Interesting Part
BoxingNews24 reported that DAZN has also made an offer, and argued that creates friction because Stevenson is a Zuffa fighter. That is the outlet’s analysis rather than confirmed fact, but the structural point holds.
Two fighters on different platforms is how great fights die. Boxing has spent 15 years proving this. When the broadcaster matters more than the matchup, the matchup waits.
Stevenson’s last win came over Teofimo Lopez in January, which means he has been inactive for most of 2026 and has every incentive to fight somebody meaningful before the year ends.
Make the Fight
Both of these fighters are at the point in their careers where the alternative to each other is a tune-up nobody buys. Haney and Stevenson have circled each other since they were amateurs, and the fight is more interesting now than it will be in two years.
Public negotiation is not a great sign. When terms get read out on a podcast, it usually means private conversations are not working. Bill Haney knows that, and he is using the only leverage available to a promoter whose fighter has already said yes.
Stevenson should take it, move the weight to a number both camps can live with, and fight in Atlanta. The alternative is another year of fans asking why this has not happened.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.