That’s a bold statement considering Teofimo has fought Vasily Lomachenko and Jamaine Ortiz. These were two skilled fighters with mobility, over whom Teo prevailed. He handled the mobility and hand speed of Jamaine pretty well last year.
“I think Teo is a very dominant force, but I just feel like the skills of Shakur Stevenson will overwhelm Teo. He’s never seen this type of action,” Zab Judah said. MillCity Boxingpredicting that Shakur Stevenson will be too much for WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez.
As former two-division world champion Judah Shakur describes, he makes him sound like he’s a phenomenon. In reality, Stevenson is more of a blue-collar type fighter who picks and moves. He has never fought at an elite level like this.
When he does get knockouts, it’s against fighters who are on the fringes, like Josh Padley. For Stevenson to come out on January 31st to blow Teo out would be a mistake as he could run into a big shot and get hurt.
In the same interview, Judah was reminded of his previous prediction that Shakur would ‘stop Teo’. Zab then confirmed that he predicted this by saying, “Destruction.”
“The fight is going to be a lot closer than we think. We’re just blowing our mouths and running away from what we think is our professional opinion,” Judah said.
A knockout would help Stevenson. He needs a win like this to create demand for bigger fights in 2026. Shakur said after his last fight against Zepeda that he was not going to stand and fight with his opponents again.
That comment suggests that he will return to his amateur style of hit-and-don’t-hit approach. Fighting like this makes it less likely that he will knock Lopez out.
