WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson says he has to show fans that William Zepeda is not on his level for their proposed February 22 fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Zepeda must still win his 10-round fight against the Shakur cloneTevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs), this Saturday, November 16, on the Latino Night card at The Venue in Riyadh. Although the Zepeda-Farmer fight seems to be the most talked about of any fight in the event, they will be competing on the undercard.
In the main event, WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez faces WBO champion Chris Billiam-Smith in a unification, and in the co-feature fight are light welterweights Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza Jr.
Shakur could lose this fight to Zepeda, as the 27-year-old from Newark, New Jersey, did not show the same ability at 135 to dominate as he had at 126 and 130.
Zepeda might be too powerful for Shakur
William Zepeda’s power, high work rate and body punching will make it difficult for Shakur to win his fight without getting lucky on the scorecards.
Zepeda will obviously try to take the judges out of the equation to prevent him from ending up in the same position that the other fighters faced the famous former Top Rank fighter.
Stevenson doesn’t have the power to be a top-level lightweight fighter, and he owes his WBC lightweight title to the judges who gave him a controversial decision against Edwin Delos Santos last year on November 16, 2023.
Stevenson-De Los Santos Final Statistics
– Shakur: 80 of 444 punches thrown for 18%
– De Los Santos: 40 of 287 for 14%
Shakur’s constant movement hindered the exchanges, but De Los Santos landed harder punches in each 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 in the ring after the fight, the crowd continued to boo him, who said he felt he was the one who made the fight wrong.
It’s not just Shakur’s lack of power that could get him into trouble against a big-bodied, big-volume puncher like Zepeda. In that fight, Shakur moved for 12 rounds, landing almost nothing. It’s Shakur’s frail hands. He tore a tendon in his right hand while training for a fight against Joe Cordina on October 12.
Shakur’s frail hands
The fight was canceled because Shakur needed surgery. On July 6, 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 to leave the Prudential Center venue halfway through the contest. ESPN showed fans heading to the exit.
The undefeated Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) isn’t used to facing opposition that fans feel will beat him. So, he takes Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) as a personal challenge to show that he is not in his league and that he goes to school in a way that will leave no doubt.
“I’m excited to do it. I think that performing at the highest level, at the level that I feel should be performed, matters the most. I’m going to go and do what I have to do against Zepeda,” said Shakur Stevenson to Boxing news about his proposed fight against William Zepeda on February 22.
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 parting gift from Top Rank. This was Shakur’s last fight with his promoters before becoming a free agent. Then, he met against a weak puncher coming off a layoff and a loss to Frank Martin.
- Edwin De Los Santos: Questionable win for Shakur. In this fight, Shakur showed no desire to stay and engage with De Los Santos. Almost every punch that was landed by Shakur saw him duck to avoid being hit, and the Las Vegas crowd was not happy to watch this style of mouse. Shakur looked like a porch hack with the way he landed and ran immediately. He doesn’t belong in the main event with that style of fighting.
- Shuichiro Yoshino: An obscure fringe-level fight 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 class of weight He has already looked bad in super feather against Jeremiah Nakathilia and Robson Conceicao. Those fights were a red flag that Shakur would have trouble fighting at lightweight.
“I think he’s a good fighter. He’s good at what he does, but he’s not at my level,” Shakur continued about Zepeda. “I know there are levels to boxing. You have to be able to think a certain way, do a certain way and once he gets in there, he will understand 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’ll handle his business next week (against Tevin Farmer). That’s all I care about. All I care about I worry about what’s in front of me, and then I can move on to what’s next,” Shakur said.
