WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson says he’s going to show fans that William Zepeda is not on his level for their proposed fight on February 22nd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Zepeda still must win his 10-round fight against the Shakur clone, Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs), this Saturday, November 16th, on the Latino Night card at The Venue in Riyadh. Although the Zepeda-Farmer fighter appears to be the one being talked about the most of any fight in the event, they’ll be competing on the undercard.
In the main event, WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez faces WBO champ Chris Billiam-Smith in a unification, and in the co-feature bout are light welterweights Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza Jr. mixing it up.
Shakur could lose this fight to Zepeda, as the 27-year-old Newark, New Jersey native hasn’t shown the same ability at 135 to dominate as he had at 126 and 130.
Zepeda Could Be Too Powerful for Shakur
William Zepeda’s power, high work rate, and body punching will make it difficult for Shakur to win their fight without getting lucky on the scorecards.
Zepeda will obviously be looking to take the judges out of the equation to prevent winding up in the same position that other fighters have facing the popular former Top Rank fighter.
Stevenson lacks the power to be a top-level fighter at lightweight, and he owes his WBC lightweight title to the judges who gave him a controversial decision against Edwin De Los Santos last year on November 16th, 2023.
Stevenson-De Los Santos final punch stats
– Shakur: 80 of 444 punches thrown for 18%
– De Los Santos: 40 of 287 for 14%
Shakur’s constant movement prevented exchanges, but De Los Santos landed harder punches in every round. The Las Vegas fans at ringside for the fight at the T-Mobile that night were furious, booing both fighters from the fourth round. When Shakur was interviewed inside the ring after the fight, the crowd continued to boo him, making it clear that they felt that he was the one that made it a dull fight.
It’s not just Shakur’s lack of power that could put him in trouble against a rugged, high-volume body puncher like Zepeda. In that fight, Shakur moved for 12 rounds, landing almost nothing. It’s Shakur’s brittle hands. He ruptured a tendon in his right hand while training for a fight against Joe Cordina on October 12th.
Shakur’s Brittle Hands
The fight was canceled because Shakur needed surgery. On July 6th, he injured both hands during his title defense against Artem Harutyunyan. Shakur won a 12-round unanimous decision, but his punching power was weak, and fans began leaving the Prudential Center venue halfway through the contest. ESPN showed fans heading to the exit.
The unbeaten Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is not unaccustomed to facing opposition that fans feel will beat him. So, he’s taking Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) as a personal challenge to show that he’s not in his league and that he’s going to school him in a way that will leave no doubts.
“I’m excited to perform. I think performing at the highest level, at the level that I feel I should be performing at, matters the most. I’m going to go in and do what I got to do against Zepeda,” said Shakur Stevenson to Boxing News about his proposed next fight against William Zepeda on February 22nd.
We haven’t seen Shakur perform at a high level since he moved up to lightweight a year ago. That’s the problem. Since moving up to 135, Shakur has fought three times and looked average in two of the three fights against these fighters:
- Artur Harutyunyan: A going away present from Top Rank. This was Shakur’s last fight with his promoters before becoming a free agent. So, he matched against a weak puncher coming off a year layoff and a loss to Frank Martin.
- Edwin De Los Santos: Questionable win for Shakur. In this fight, Shakur showed no willingness to stand and engage with De Los Santos. Almost every punch that was landed by Shakur saw him dash away to escape being hit back, and the Las Vegas crowd was not happy watching this mouse-like style. Shakur resembled a porch pirate with the way he would land and run immediately. He did not belong in the main event with that fighting style.
- Shuichiro Yoshino: An obscure fringe-level fighter in Shakur’s debut at 135. It was pretty obvious why this guy was chosen for Shakur’s first lightweight fight, as Top Rank wasn’t going to take any chances with him in the new weight class. He’s already looked bad at super featherweight against Jeremiah Nakathilia and Robson Conceicao. Those fights were a red flag that Shakur would have problems fighting at lightweight.
“I think he’s a good fighter. He’s good at what he do, but he’s not on my level,” Shakur continued about Zepeda. “I know there’s levels to boxing. You’ve got to be able to think a certain way, do a certain way and once he gets in there, he’ll realize what he should already know.
“I can’t look past what’s in front of me right now. What’s in front of me is Zepeda. Hopefully, he handles his business next week [against Tevin Farmer]. That’s all I’m worried about. All I worry about what’s in front of me, and then I can go on to what’s next after that,” said Shakur.
