Bob Arum anticipates a much more entertaining performance from Keyshawn Davis when he encounters Edwin De Los Santos on June 7 than Shakur Stevenson provided when he fought the Dominican southpaw.

Stevenson indicated lingering hand and shoulder injuries hampered him when he defeated De Los Santos by unanimous decision in November 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Whatever held him back that night, critics crucified Stevenson for his reluctance to engage in what was an unbearably boring 12-round fight for the then-vacant WBC lightweight title.

Arum applauded Davis’ commitment to becoming a more fan-friendly fighter since his 10-round, majority-decision victory over Nahir Albright in October 2023 was changed to a no-contest because Davis tested positive for marijuana, a banned substance according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

The Norfolk, Virginia, native is 4-0 since then, including three knockouts, and dominated previously unbeaten Ukrainian Denys Berinchyk to win the WBO lightweight title Feb. 14 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Arum’s company, Top Rank Inc., no longer promotes Stevenson. The Hall of Fame promoter, 93, still stopped short of condemning his performance against De Los Santos.

“Shakur has a different philosophy [than Davis],” Arum told The Ring. “Shakur is a defensive wizard who knows how to win fights. But he, maybe because he doesn’t have the same type of equipment [as Davis], is not as aggressive of a fighter. And it may very well be because he can’t hit as hard as Keyshawn can. But each of them have very, very interesting styles. But at this point, they are diametrically opposite styles.”

Arum realizes we won’t watch them determine who is better in the ring because Davis, 26, and Stevenson, 27, are close friends who’ve repeatedly stated they’ll never fight. When asked who would win if they changed their minds, Arum was noncommittal.

“Not gonna say, because again, each of them is a master of his own style,” Arum said. “How a fight between them would turn out, I really don’t know. And I assume I’ll never find out.”

Davis (13-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) will make his first defense of the WBO lightweight title against De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs), of Reading, Pennsylvania, on June 7 in a 12-round main event ESPN will air from Scope Arena in downtown Norfolk.

The left-handed Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs), a three-division champion from Newark, New Jersey, can redeem himself against another strong southpaw when he meets Mexico’s William Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) on July 12 at a venue to be announced in New York City. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist will make a required defense of his belt versus Zepeda, the WBC interim 135-pound champ, in the main event of a card sponsored by The Ring.

Arum expects a motivated Stevenson to perform better when he opposes Zepeda than he did when he beat De Los Santos. Seventeen months later, Arum remains uncertain as to how Stevenson’s physical issues hindered him when he faced De Los Santos.

”I can’t talk to that because I don’t know how serious those injuries were,” Arum said. “Only he can. And to put myself in the shoes of these young athletes, particularly the young athletes of real skill and distinction, is sort of crazy. And so, I don’t try. I’m a 93-year-old man. What the [expletive] do I know what the effect of these injuries are?”