Shakur Stevenson reportedly chose his second battle of his two-fold contract with Eddie Hearn’s match room and will work with promoter Lou Dibbella for his title defense of his WBC lightweight strip against William Zepeda on the 12th card in New York.
Flat fee transaction
Stevenson signed with Hearn in 2024 and only fought once and stopped the electrician Josh Padley in the ninth round on February 22 in Riyadh. Hearn wanted to plan a battle for Shakur against Joe Cordina in October last year, but he sustained a hand injury while practicing.
Then Rafael reports that Shakur (23-0, 11 COs) Dibella on a ‘Level fee‘For the Zepeda (33-0, 27 food) fighting’ it will make much less than a promoter who had him under contract. ‘
He will be a free agent afterwards. He says Stevenson gets a ‘Mid-7 figure payday ” for the Zepeda fight. So, Shakur gets a payday between $ 4 million and $ 7 million for the Zepeda match. It would be cheaper for Shakur with Dibella than it would be if he was still under contract with Hearn.
Some fans on social media consider Stevenson’s decision to leave Hearn as an act of gratitude and betrayal. After all, he helped get his name there by praising him in interviews, and he gave him an easy fight against Padley rather than a dangerous one against Cuban knockout artist Jadier Herrera on February 22. Hearn could have thrown in Shakur with Herrera, and he had to run from the 22-year-old man because he had one-time power.
The opt-out
“In the report on July 12 card with Shakur-Zepeda, a source with notice of details told me that Shakur of Matchroom and his manager, James Prince, has appointed Lou Dibbella as his promoter for the event,” Rafael said.
“He had a two-fold agreement with the match room, one of the two sides could choose after the first one. He was barely in a long -term agreement. ‘
It may not be such a great loss for Hearn. Look at the bright side. He is rid of a fighter who sees fans as a look, and he will be worthless to someone if he loses or acts badly against Zepeda.
Shakur cannot fight as Tevin Farmer did against Zepeda because he does not have the size, power and toughness to handle the kind of pressure. Shakur will have to fight Zepeda for him to strike out. If he does, she can crush glass hands.
Last updated on 04/20/2025
