Archie Sharp makes his lightweight debut on Saturday in Doncaster, England.
The 25-1 (9 KOs) Sharp faces veteran Maxi Hughes hoping to propel himself back into world title contention. Sharp was ranked at No. 1 by the WBO down at 130lbs for what seemed like forever, but Sharp never got his shot at the title which was held by Shakur Stevenson for the majority of that spell. Sharp, now 30, was then defeated by Ryan Garner last July and has decided to rebuild up at 135lbs. The goal, however, is still the same.
“Look, it's always been my dream to be world champion,” Sharp told BoxingScene. “That's what I was chasing for so long at 130. When I turned pro, I'd done so much in the amateurs. Even in the amateurs, it was never like, ‘Oh, we'll win the Southern Area’. It was always national. We always had to be the best of the best.
“And the same with the world title. Like, that is the best. And what a fortunate position to be. Once again, beat Maxi, you've got Shakur Stevenson, you've got Keyshawn Davis, Lomachenko, Gervonta Davis. All these great fighters there. So, for me, I just want to jump straight in. I’m 30 now. So, I think the time’s ready.”
Sharp’s main rival at 130lbs was Stevenson. The then-featherweight champion had moved up and jumped ahead of Sharp in the queue for a title shot. Stevenson then defeated Jamel Herring for the championship but never faced his No. 1 challenger in Sharp. The pair did not get along, regularly taking to social media to talk down each other’s credentials. Sharp is now hoping that a win on Friday finally earns him a shot at Stevenson – who owns the WBC lightweight title.
“Look, ideally, all goes to plan on May 23rd, I'll do what I know I can do, this puts me highly ranked there,” he said. “You've got Shakur in the WBC, and then you've got Gervonta Davis at the WBA. So, ideally, I've got to jump straight in with one of them. That's what my preference would be. But Shakur, as everyone knows, there was always a bit of back and forth there at 130.
“He was the champion. Then I kind of got swerved a couple of times. They went and boxed number twos and threes, and so I got missed out there. So, yeah, maybe it wasn’t meant to be at 130. Then maybe me and Shakur meet up at 135 instead of 130, you know?
“I've always known that Shakur's a great fighter,” he continued. “But I've got attributes that can kind of exploit his weaknesses, and I think Josh Padley did some things as well, to be fair. Everyone was just saying how great Shakur was… and I just didn't believe it. I felt like I've got the skills and the attributes to kind of beat him. This is why I’m here. I want to fight the best fighters but it never happened. So, I’ve had a little bit of rebuilding to do. And now, God willing, if it goes well May 23rd and then, yeah, we’ll hopefully pick up where we left off.”