Eddie Hearn: William Zepeda will outshine Shakur Stevenson

Promoter Eddie Hearn says William Zepeda will “duck” Shakur Stevenson in early 2025 rather than take that fight. He doesn’t say why he thinks Zepeda would do that because he fought hard and climbed the ranks to challenge Shakur for his WBC lightweight title.

Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) isn’t the type to dodge anyone, as he’s called out Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) since the New Jersey native won the WBC 135-lb belt last November.

It will be a huge disappointment for Hearn if Zepeda knocks out Shakur because he signed him to an expensive two-fight deal with Matchroom with the idea of ​​a mega-fight against Gervonta Davis in 2025.

What Hearn needs to do is match Shakur against a weak opponent like Joe Cordina when he returns from hand surgery in early 2025 and then take on Gervonta Davis in mid-2025. Shakur can beat Cordina.

Hearn talked about turning Shakur into a “global superstar” in a short amount of time, leading some fans to wonder if he had actually seen him fight before. If Hearn had seen Shakur fight, he would have known he was deadweight and not someone who could beat Zepeda, Tank David, Abdullah Mason or Vasily Lomachenko.

Shakur hasn’t shown the ability to be a star of any kind. Right now, he’s just a guy who won the WBC title in a non-stop booed fight last year against Edwin De Los Santos. He has fought just once since then, working to a lackluster 12-round decision against lightweight Artem Harutyunyan, who was coming off a loss to Frank Martin.

Zepeda’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy, wants Stevenson and considers him too beatable for the Mexican knockout artist. The 28-year-old Zepeda is rated #1 with the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO at lightweight.

Next month, Zepeda takes on slick former IBF super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) as a draft opponent on Nov. 16 on “Latino Night” at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“In my opinion, Zepeda will duck Shakur,” Eddie Hearn said Fight Hub TVwhich predicts William Zepeda to drop a title shot against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson in early 2025.

Hearn may end up wishing Zepeda had dodged Shakur as this fight could go badly for the WBC 135-lb champion. Shakur barely beat Edwin De Los Santos last November and forced him to move all night in a fight that could have gone either way. Zepeda is much better at cutting off the ring than De Los Santos, and he’s going to attack all night.

In Shakur’s last fight against Artem Harutyunyan, we saw that he lacked the offensive skills to stand his ground with his opponents at lightweight and was forced to move. Shakur will not last longer than Giovanni Cabrera, Maxi Hughes and Mercito Gesta if he stands and fights against Zepeda.

“Listen, this is his best shot now. Shakur is coming off hand surgery, and he’s going to get right back into the fight. Zepeda got the warm-up fight against Tevin Farmer (on November 16). It’s a nice style to adapt for Shakur. I don’t think Oscar (De La Hoya) will do that. It will eat him up too badly,” Hearn said.

Hopefully Hearn isn’t counting on Zepeda ducking out of the fight against Shakur, because that probably won’t happen. Why would Zepeda dodge a fight against Shakur and miss out on his fastest path to a world title?

It’s not like Gervonta will give Zepeda a chance to fight for his belt or IBF champion Lomachenko. If Zepeda doesn’t take advantage of this opportunity to fight Shakur for his belt, it could be years before he gets another shot.