Shakur Stevenson Said “You Got a Deal” at 145. Then He Took It Back Within Hours.

Let me clear up exactly where this stands, because the reporting genuinely splits into two different moments, and depending on which outlet you read, you’d think this is either basically done or still completely stuck.

Here’s the full sequence. Haney had been pushing for a full 147-pound welterweight limit with no rehydration clause, meaning no restriction on how much weight he could put back on between the weigh-in and fight night. Stevenson wanted a lower catchweight, 144 pounds, plus a cap on Haney’s rehydration, since Stevenson’s coming up from 140 and doesn’t want to face a dramatically bigger opponent once fight night actually arrives. That standoff is the same one I covered before, and it was genuinely stalled.

Then on October 6th, Haney moved. He posted, “Let’s do this 145 no rehydration clause… Somebody go wake Shakur up. Tell him we got a deal.” That’s a real concession, two pounds down from his original 147 demand. And according to BoxingNews24, Shakur responded almost immediately, posting “145.0 U GOT A DEAL DEEHOE!!!!” So yes, you heard correctly. At that specific moment, Stevenson publicly accepted Haney’s number.

But here’s what happened next, and it’s the part that actually answers your question. BoxingNews24’s own follow-up reporting notes that if Stevenson accepted Haney’s offer in full, he’d be giving up more than just the extra pound, he’d also be dropping his rehydration restriction demand entirely, since Haney’s offer never included one. And Boxing247 reports that shortly after, Stevenson pushed back publicly again, saying “the weight bully is exposed” and pushing for a 10-pound rehydration limit on top of the 145 number. So the apparent deal didn’t actually hold past that first exchange. As of the most recent reporting I can find, no formal agreement has been announced, and multiple outlets, including Yardbarker and Fight Sports, explicitly state Stevenson hasn’t accepted the full terms.

So to directly answer what you’re actually asking. The weight number itself, 145, does appear to have real momentum behind it now, more than any previous proposal in this negotiation. But it is not finalized, because the two sides still disagree on the rehydration clause, which is arguably the more consequential term anyway. Two guys agreeing on a contracted weight while still fighting over how much either of them can weigh on actual fight night isn’t a done deal, it’s a narrower, but still real, disagreement.

On your second question, whether Stevenson’s actually acting like he wants this fight. I think the honest read is mixed, and it’s worth laying out both sides rather than picking one. In favor of him being serious: he did publicly accept 145 in the moment, even if he’s since added a condition, and he’s also publicly posted “Let’s go!” directly at Haney earlier in this saga, which isn’t the behavior of someone trying to avoid the fight entirely. Against that read: this is now at least the second time Stevenson has seemed to move toward a deal before pulling back with an additional demand, first the 144 catchweight fight that dissolved without a signature, and now this 145 acceptance that got walked back within the same news cycle. There’s also the pattern I covered a few weeks ago, where Stevenson similarly agreed to a catchweight with Haney once before, then went quiet instead of finalizing anything, and Bill Haney has publicly said Stevenson never actually responded to that earlier 144 agreement at all.

Add in that both of Stevenson’s other recent potential fights, against Ryan Garcia and separately a proposed Manny Pacquiao matchup, also failed to materialize, and you’ve got a real pattern worth noticing: public engagement and even apparent agreement, followed by stalling once it’s time to actually finalize terms. That doesn’t prove he doesn’t want to fight Haney. But it’s a legitimate, fair basis for skepticism about whether any specific agreement, including this 145 moment, actually turns into a signed fight rather than another round of social media back-and-forth.

So here’s where I land on it. The weight gap has genuinely narrowed, that part is real progress. Whether it actually closes depends on the rehydration clause specifically, and based on how many times this exact cycle has repeated already, I wouldn’t treat Stevenson’s “you got a deal” post as the fight being made until there’s an actual signed agreement with a date attached.