Eddie Hearn says he hopes Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya will agree to his side of the deal for his fighter #1 ranked William Zepeda to challenge WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd.
Hearn and Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) are both in a hurry to make the fight with Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs), feeling like it’s a sure-thing win. It’s a bad style matchup for Shakur, who can’t punch and has been nervous and skittish since moving up to 135 in 2023. Zepeda showed what he would do to Shakur with a beating he inflicted on 34-year-old Tevin Farmer last Saturday night at Latino Night in Riyadh.
Hearn is still enchanted with Shakur and hasn’t seen his limitations in his game yet. Those will be exposed if the Zepeda fight comes off, and Hearn will likely quickly lose interest in Shakur and not re-sign him to a new contract with Matchroom.
A Choice of Champions for Zepeda
Zepeda hasn’t said whether he’ll take the fight with Shakur. After Zepeda’s victory over Farmer last Saturday, he said in the post-fight interview that his name is “being mentioned by the champions” and that he would see which one offers the best deal.
Although Zepeda did say he would “probably” be fighting Shakur next, he didn’t confirm that he would 100% be his next opponent. Zepeda is in the captain’s seat, the driver, who can pick and choose whatever champion he wants. With his popularity, he’s not limited to fighting just Shakur.
What Zepeda is obviously waiting on is to see if the face of boxing, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, and PBC choose to make the fight with him next. If they offer Zepeda a lucrative deal, he’ll wait for Tank to defend against Lamont Roach on March 1st and face him in the summer.
That fight will pay much more than a clash against Shakur unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants to finance the fight with Stevenson. If not, Zepeda can make more money fighting Tank and getting a cut of the PPV upside.
“We’ve agreed from our side that Shakur should fight Zepeda with His Excellency. That’s a great fight,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing. “People say he [Zepeda] under-performed against Tevin Farmer. Tevin is very tricky, a very good fighter, and probably a tough style for Zepeda.
“That’ll help him in the build-up for him to fight Shakur Stevenson, but with all respect to Tevin, Shakur is on another level, and let’s just hope that De La Hoya agrees to his end of the deal and makes the Zepeda fight. I’m really going to enjoy sitting next to him for that fight.
“What you’re going to see is one of the greater pound-for-pound fighters of our generation, a three-division world champion, 27-year-old Shakur Stevenson, put on a masterclass against Zepeda. You’re going to see something very special,” said Hearn.
