WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson says he’s going to show fans that William Zepeda is not up to par for their proposed February 22 fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Zepeda still has his 10-round fight against the Shakur cloneTevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs), this Saturday, November 16, on the Latino Night card at The Venue in Riyadh. Although the Zepeda-Farmer fighter appears to be the most talked about of any fight in the event, they will compete on the undercard.
In the main event, WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez takes on WBO champion Chris Billiam-Smith in a unification match, and in the co-feature bout light welterweights Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza Jr. what it mixes.
Shakur could lose this fight against Zepeda, as the 27-year-old Newark, New Jersey native hasn’t shown the same ability to dominate at 135 that he did at 126 and 130.
Zepeda may be too powerful for Shakur
William Zepeda’s power, high work rate and body holding will make it difficult for Shakur to win their fight without getting lucky on the scorecards.
Zepeda will obviously try to take the judges out of the equation to avoid ending up in the same position as other fighters facing the popular former Top Rank fighter.
Stevenson doesn’t have the power to be a top-level fighter at lightweight, and he owes his WBC lightweight title to the judges who gave him a controversial decision against him. Edwin Delos Santos last year on 16 November 2023.
Stevenson-De Los Santos final bump stats
– Shakur: 80 of 444 pitches thrown for 18%
– De Los Santos: 40 of 287 for 14%
Shakur’s constant movement prevented exchanges, but De Los Santos landed harder punches in each round. The Las Vegas fans at ringside for the fight at the T-Mobile that night were furious, booing both fighters from the fourth round. When Shakur was interviewed inside the ring after the fight, the crowd continued to boo him, making it clear that they felt he was the one who made it a dull fight.
It’s not just Shakur’s lack of power that could put him in trouble against a rugged, high-volume body puncher like Zepeda. In that fight, Shakur moved for 12 rounds and landed almost nothing. It’s Shakur’s brittle hands. He ruptured a tendon in his right hand while training for a fight against Joe Cordina on October 12th.
Shakur’s brittle hands
The fight was canceled because Shakur needed surgery. On July 6, he injured both hands during his title defense against Artem Harutyunyan. Shakur won a 12-round unanimous decision, but his punching power was poor, and fans began leaving the Prudential Center venue midway through the contest. ESPN showed fans heading for the exit.
The undefeated Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is not unusual for facing opposition that fans feel will beat him. So, he takes Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) as a personal challenge to show that he is not in his league and that he is going to school him in a way that will leave no doubt.
“I’m excited to perform. I think performing at the highest level, at the level I feel I should be performing at, matters the most. I’m going to go in and do what I have to do against Zepeda,” Shakur Stevenson said Boxing News about his proposed next fight against William Zepeda on February 22nd.
We haven’t seen Shakur perform at a high level since he moved up to lightweight a year ago. That’s the problem. Since moving up to 135, Shakur has fought three times and has looked average in two of the three fights against these fighters:
- Artur Harutyunyan: A going away gift from Top Rank. This was Shakur’s last fight with his promoters before becoming a free agent. So he beat a weak puncher coming off a year layoff and a loss to Frank Martin.
- Edwin De Los Santos: Doubtful win for Shakur. In this fight, Shakur showed no willingness to stand up and engage De Los Santos. Almost every punch landed by Shakur saw him dash away to escape being knocked back, and the Las Vegas crowd was not happy watching this mousy style. Shakur looked like a porch pirate with the way he would immediately land and run. He didn’t belong in the main event with that fighting style.
- Shuichiro Yoshino: An obscure fringe fighter in Shakur’s debut at 135. It was pretty obvious why this guy was picked for Shakur’s first lightweight fight, as Top Rank wasn’t going to take any chances with him in the new weight class. He’s already looked bad at super featherweight against Jeremiah Nakathilia and Robson Conceicao. Those fights were a red flag that Shakur would have trouble fighting at lightweight.
“I think he’s a good fighter. He’s good at what he does, but he’s not on my level,” Shakur continued about Zepeda. “I know there are levels to boxing. You have to be able to think a certain way, do a certain way and once he gets in there, he will realize what he should already know.
“I cannot look past what is in front of me now. What is in front of me is Zepeda. Hopefully he takes care of business next week (against Tevin Farmer). That’s all I’m worried about. All I worry about is what’s in front of me, and then I can move on to what’s next after that,” Shakur said.
