Eddie Hearn says he hopes Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya will agree to his part of the deal for his #1 ranked fighter William Zepeda to challenge WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd.
Hearn and Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) are both in a rush to make the fight with Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs), feeling it is a sure win. It’s a bad matchup style for Shakur, who can’t punch and has been nervous and nervous since he moved to 135 in 2023. Zepeda showed what he would do to Shakur with a beating he inflicted on 34-year-old Tevin Farmer on Saturday night at Latino Night in Riyadh.
Hearn is still enamored with Shakur and has yet to see his limitations in his game. Those will be exposed if the Zepeda fight comes, 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 has not said if he will 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 will see who offers the best deal.
Although Zepeda said he will “probably” fight Shakur next, he did not confirm 100% that he would 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 is not limited to fighting only Shakur.
What Zepeda is obviously waiting for is to see if the face of boxing, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davisand PBC chooses to fight him later. If they offer Zepeda a lucrative deal, he will wait until Tank defends against Lamont Roach on March 1st and face him in the summer.
This fight will pay a lot more than a fight against Shakur, unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants to finance the fight with Stevenson. If not, Zepeda can make more money fighting Tank and get a cut of the PPV upside.
“We agreed on our part that Shakur should fight Zepeda with His Excellency. It’s a great fight,” said Eddie Hearn Matchroom Boxing. “People are saying that (Zepeda) is undermatched against Tevin Farmer. Tevin is very tough, a very good fighter, and probably a tough style for Zepeda.
“This will help him in training for him to fight Shakur Stevenson, but with all due respect to Tevin, Shakur is on another level, and we just hope that De La Hoya agrees to his end of the deal and returns the Zepeda .wrestle. I will really like to sit next to him for that fight.
“What you’re going to see is one of the greatest 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.” , Hearn said.
