Eddie Hearn recently witnessed one of his major UK stars, Conor Benn, call out what is probably the best defensive fighter on the planet in Shakur Stevenson.

Stevenson moved up to super lightweight last month and easily defeated Teofimo Lopez And at the age of 28, he became a four-weight world champion. After the fight, he invited Ben to the ring. Even though Ben was a natural welterweight and had recently competed at middleweight, both men insisted that the fight would take place.

talking about First round of television broadcastHearn began by discussing Shakur’s future.

“We have to make sure Shakur has the opportunity to fight all the elite fighters of his era…I’m talking about Devin Haney, if he stays at 140, unified — Gary Russell, Dalton Smith, Richardson Hitchens — other fighters (like) Schofield, Mulatala. You’re going to pick him against everybody.”

When asked about Benn specifically – a name he did not mention on the list – the promoter admitted it was a “very tough fight” for his welterweight chief.

“I’m looking at this fight as a Connor Benn representative, and I think the only thing I like about that fight is the size. Because Conor has a big, big size advantage, he’s going to hit harder than Shakur. But, this is Shakur. It’s a very difficult fight. Conor just lost control in the smoke and hopefully everyone… to me, I want to see him win a world title.”

Ben looks more likely to face the winner of Rolando Romero (although Shahram Giyasov’s mandatory challenge remains) or Mario Barrios vs. Ryan Garcia later this month.

As for Stevenson, his lightweight world title is now vacant; He will likely stay at 140 pounds and has expressed interest in fighting Isaac “The Bulldog” Cruz. However, a move to welterweight is still on the table for Ben, Haney or Garcia.