There is speculation that WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will defend against William Zepeda on February 22 in what promoter Eddie Hearn says will be the “best card of the Riyadh season”. The Shakur-Zepeda fight has yet to be confirmed for this event, but it is believed that this is when it will happen.
Shakur is coming off hand surgery, which canceled his Matchroom debut against Joe Cordina for October 12th. It is hoped that Shakur will not have a setback when he begins training for the Zepeda fight. His hands may be too fragile to keep healthy because he had the same problems in the recent past.
Hearn recently signed Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) to a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing, and this will be the first fight. British promoter hopes to turn 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur into the “global superstar”, his vision is to defeat Zepeda in February and then Gervonta Davis in the middle of the year in 2025.
Hearn doesn’t understand why Shakur isn’t already a superstar, and believes he’ll make that happen quickly with his guidance. Hearn doesn’t understand that US fans want to be entertained and don’t like to watch fighters who don’t commit. That’s Shakur’s style. It is not committed.
Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs), promoted by Golden Boy, will take on a 10-round tune-up fight next month against Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) on November 16 on Sua Your Excellency Turki. Alalshikh’s Latin Night at the Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Farmer has a Shakur style to his game that will help prepare the Zepeda pressure fighter for the move that will see him next February.
“February 22, I think, is the best card for the Riyadh season,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to his excellency Turki Alalshikh. X.
“I hope so,” Turki said.
If Stevenson vs. Zepeda fights on this card, it will be excellent for the fans and reveal if Shakur is the real one or just a fake, as many fans believe him to be. Zepeda can cut the ring on the highly mobile Shakur, track him down, and sack him in this fight.
Zepeda could ruin Hearn’s dreams of a Shakur-Tank fight by knocking out Shakur on Feb. 22 and ruining any chance of the Newark native fighting Gervonta Davis.
Shakur was almost knocked out last November in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos and was forced to move endlessly for 12 rounds to avoid powerful punches.
The judges gave Shakur a decision, but it was a fight that had done so little that it should have gone the other way. De Los Santos landed the hardest punches and was the aggressor throughout. Shakur blamed his poor performance on being injured, but he fought the same way in many of his other fights in the pros and amateurs.
Shakur has been training for a fight against Tank Davis since turning pro in 2017, but his performances have been too lackluster for him to attract enough fan interest to create fan pressure for a fight between them . Shakur fans want to see a fight between him and Tank, but there isn’t enough to force the match.
