There’s a bit of a misconception going around about Shakur Stevenson. Contrary to popular belief, landing a fight isn’t incredibly difficult. With that said, getting a notable name to step through the ropes and stand across the ring from him, however, certainly is.

Vasiliy Lomachenko, Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, William Zepeda, and Teofimo Lopez, are his preferred options. Yet, with none of those fights materializing, Stevenson has been forced to face some of his division’s bottom feeders.

At this point, Stevenson doesn’t want to waste his time calling anyone else out. To a certain extent, he believes those fighters are all bark and no bite but that doesn't mean Stevenson doesn’t want to take part in some of boxing’s biggest events.

In order to do so, he needs a dance partner...a worthy one.

Gary Antuanne Russell has never met a fighter he didn’t want to punch in the face. And, just a few short weeks ago, he did a lot of that when he squared off against Jose Valenzuela. It was essentially an easy night at the office for Russell as he became a belt holder at 140 pounds.

Stevenson, admittedly, was impressed. So much so that he wouldn’t mind jumping in there with him next.

“I would love to line it up with him if the money makes sense,” said Stevenson on his social media account.

Usually, Stevenson has a bit of animosity for a possible opponent. In the case of Russell, that’s practically impossible.

It isn’t because there’s some sort of fear emanating from him. In fact, it’s the opposite. Currently, it’s unclear if Stevenson would ditch his WBC 135-pound title to move up in weight or if he expects Russell to drop five pounds and head on over to his territory. Those details would be worked out behind the scenes but one thing is for certain, if they did fight, there wouldn’t be any love lost between them.

"We used to spar every day," continued Stevenson. “I got hella respect for him.”