Shakur Stevenson is expected to defend his WBC lightweight title against volume puncher William Zepeda in his debut with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing in February. Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) is coming off hand surgery, and he believes he doesn’t need an adjustment to prepare for the human buzzsaw Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs).
Hearn believes Shakur will defeat Zepeda without any problems and then face Gervonta Davis in a lightweight unification fight in the summer. He naively thinks that Shakur is the best fighter at 135 and is destined to become a worldwide superstar.
There is an excellent chance that Zepeda will expose former three-division world champion Shakur in the same way that Giovanni Cabrera and Maxi Hughes have been recently. Stevenson hasn’t fought a volume puncher like Zepeda in his career, nor has he ever fought someone who targets the body like he does.
It could be interesting to see Hearn’s reaction if Shakur doesn’t live up to his vision. We saw how Hearn muddied the waters after losing to his fighter Dmitry Bivol last weekend. Will he do the same thing if Shakur gets blown by William Zepeda in February? I sure hope not.
2020 Olympic silver medalist Shakur may be asking for trouble handling this matchup because he lacks the offensive tools to match what Zepeda can generate.
Shakur lacks in these areas:
- Low Punch Output: Anemic work rate. According to Compu-box, Shakur averaged 13.6 punches per round during his career. In the fight against Edwin De Los Santos last November, Stevenson landed only 40 punches in the entire 12-round fight. That’s an absurdly low number for any fighter to land in a fight, but it points to Shakur’s imbalance in his game. In other words, he is all defense and no offense. In comparison, William Zepeda averages 100.2 punches per round. Let it sink in. Zepeda throws 86.6 more punches per round than Shakur.
- Below average power: Stevenson has a KO percentage of 50 and has only stopped one fighter in the last three years, and that was Shuichiro Yoshino. Zepeda has a KO percentage of 77, which is outstanding for any fighter. It’s like George Foreman level.
- Inability to fight in the pocket: Due to Shakur’s lack of power and avoidance of risk, he does not fight in the pocket because it involves exchanges with his opponents. What this means is that Shakur will have to be on the run for three minutes of each round against Zepeda as he did in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos to avoid being knocked out. Unfortunately, it will be difficult for Shakur to win such a decision unless the judges score the rounds favorably.
Will Hearn hear Dump Shakur if he loses?
Promoter Eddie Hearn will have to decide what to do with Shakur if he gets knocked out by Zepeda. He probably gets a lot of sympathy if he cries robbery because Americans won’t buy it and give Shakur a pass like they do with Bivol after he ran off the battlefield in his loss to Beterbiev.
The best strategy would be for Hearn to cut his losses and dump Shakur after his two-fight contract with Matchroom expires. Hearn could beat Shakur tough against Andy Cruz or Liam Paro for his second fight and then wash his hands of him after getting beat by one of those guys as well.
Shakur doesn’t seem to belong in this generation. He is like someone from a previous era using a style that is outdated and no longer relevant to the 21st century. It’s like he’s been transported from another era and he’s completely alien to how people fight now.
Last updated on 19/10/2024
