A few days after the WBC stripped Stevenson of its lightweight title, the WBO installed his close friend, Keyshawn Davis, as its No. 1 contender for the junior welterweight title Stevenson won from Teofimo Lopez on January 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Davis defeated Jamaine Ortiz by 12th-round knockout in the co-feature of “The Ring 6” card, just before Stevenson’s masterful performance against Lopez.

Stevenson, 28, and Davis, 26, consider each other family and have repeatedly stated over the past few years that they’ll never fight, no matter how much money they’re offered. They trained together in Las Vegas for their respective victories over Lopez and Ortiz and Stevenson expressed how “proud” he is of Davis during their post-fight press conference.

The WBO did not order Stevenson to fight Davis next, however, and he doesn’t have a mandatory defense due. It therefore appears he isn’t in danger of being stripped of his WBO belt anytime soon for not facing Davis next.

Davis (14-0, 10 KOs, 1 NC) wasn’t ranked in the WBO’s top 15 before Stevenson beat Lopez because the former WBO lightweight champ made his 140-debut against Ortiz (20-3-1, 10 KOs).

Davis fought for the first time since he lost his WBO belt at the scale June 6. The 2021 Olympic silver medalist came in 4.3 pounds overweight for his optional lightweight title defense against Dominican southpaw Edwin De Los Santos (17-2, 15 KOs), who was subsequently removed from their main event in Davis’ hometown of Norfolk, Virginia.

The WBO also installed Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs) as its No. 2 contender for Stevenson’s title. Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) took The Ring junior welterweight from Lopez as well by winning 11 of 12 rounds on the cards of judges Max De Luca, Eric Marlinski and Steve Weisfeld, each of whom scored their fight 119-109.

Stevenson mentioned the possibility afterward of dropping back down to the lightweight limit of 135 pounds. That option isn’t as appealing since he no longer holds a title in that division.

The WBC cited a rule that prohibits its champions from holding IBF, WBA or WBO belts in different weight classes than he or she owns a WBC belt as its reason for taking Stevenson’s title. Stevenson suggested on social media that the WBC stripped him in part due to the Mexico City-based sanctioning body’s “beef” with Terence Crawford, Stevenson’s close friend and mentor, over Crawford refusing to pay a $300,000 sanctioning fee for his unanimous points victory over Canelo Alvarez on September 13 in Las Vegas.

Stevenson revealed that the WBC requested an exorbitant $100,000 fee he didn’t pay for allowing him to fight for the WBO junior welterweight title. He wasn’t overdue for a mandated defense of the WBC lightweight title because he satisfied that obligation when he beat Mexican southpaw William Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) by unanimous decision on “The Ring III” card July 12 in Queens, New York.

The left-handed Stevenson, a four-division champion from Newark, New Jersey, also expressed interest in moving up to welterweight to box British star Conor Benn next. That would be a non-title bout, but would produce considerable revenue, particularly if Stevenson traveled to England to battle Benn (24-1, 14 KOs).

Davis, meanwhile, mentioned moving up to welterweight to challenge WBO champ Devin Haney (33-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) in his next fight. He also discussed facing either IBF welterweight champ Lewis Crocker (22-0, 11 KOs) or WBC super lightweight champ Dalton Smith (19-0, 14 KOs) in the United Kingdom.