Shakur Stevenson says he doesn’t need an adjustment to prepare for his fight against William Zepeda in February. Stevenson assumes he won’t be injured again with another hand ailment that could ruin his plans and cause further delay.
It’s not so much the time that WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) will be out of the ring, but rather the lack of preparation on his part to get ready for a guy like Zepeda (31- 0, 27) KOs).
Shakur looked bad with the pressure he received in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos last November. Against that big puncher, Stevenson was straining after getting hit with some monstrous shots early on.
The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur gave up on fighting De Los Santos altogether and ran around the ring, ignoring the boos. Shakur only got the occasional jab, but nothing else besides that.
The judges gave Shakur, the A-side fighter, the win, but he didn’t look like he did enough. After the fight, Shakur blamed his performance on a hand injury. Few fans bought into that excuse, noting how scared Shakur appeared after being tagged hard by De Los Santos in rounds one and two. Stevenson didn’t want to be knocked out, so he ran.
De Los Santos isn’t nearly as good of a push fighter as William Zepeda and doesn’t target the body the way he does. He also lacks the punch pit that Zepeda possesses. Shakur has a lot more trouble against Zepeda than he does against De Los Santos.
The Mexican fighter is the kind of pressure fighter Shakur has never seen in the pro ranks and an absolute nightmare for a light puncher like him. Zepeda destroyed a Shakur-like fighter in Giovanni Cabrera, knocking him out in the third round on July 6.
Cabrera tried the same tricks as Shakur using the three step back style and running around the ring, but he was not effective against Zepeda. He repeatedly cut off the ring on Cabrera, forcing him into an inside game and hacking him apart. What was interesting about that fight was how Zepeda started off slow in the first two rounds, only throwing 50+ punches per round.
By the third round, Zepeda was throwing non-stop shots in machine-gun fashion and was too much for Cabrera, who fell in a heap after being caught with a body shot and counted out.
If Shakur loses this fight, his career is going to be exactly where Devin Haney’s is right now after his recent loss to Ryan Garcia. Stevenson can forget about his dreams of a fight against Gervonta Davis.
His promoter, Eddie Hearn, will have to decide what to do with Skakur in the remaining fights on his two-fight contract. Hearn could choose to throw Skakur to the wolves by feeding him to Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz in 2020 and watch him finish his career.
It would be pointless for Hearn to waste the remaining fight on Shakur’s contract by matching him against a soft touch if he intends to wash his hands of him.
Yeah I gotta realize I know what I’m capable of I don’t need tune ups I’ve been doing this my whole life I’ve been in the gym forever February is a movie over
https://t.co/cv2zx0AO4x
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) September 25, 2024
