William Zepeda’s trainer, Jay “Panda” Najar, believes his fighter could have given Shakur Stevenson a lot more trouble if he followed the game plan in their fight last year.
“I believe that if William would have thrown a little more punches instead of waiting, he would have been surprised by the speed and the IQ of Shakur,” Najar told Fight Hub TV. “I think it was more on William’s part, being surprised to have such a fighter in front of him. It kind of tamed William to throw punches.”
Najar felt the surprise factor prevented Zepeda from fighting Stevenson with his usual aggression.
“I think if William would have gone out and just followed the game plan, he probably would have had a better fight or put Shakur in trouble or even hurt Shakur at times,” Najar said.
While he gave Stevenson credit for the win, Najar said there were no excuses for the loss.
“At the end of the day, we faced a great fighter. There are no excuses. Anything I think we could have done would not have made a difference in that fight. You’re probably going up against a future Hall of Famer in Shakur. He’s an incredibly smart fighter,” Najar said.
Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) returns on August 1 when he faces Lamont Roach Jr. face off for the vacant WBC lightweight title at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The winner could move into position for a future unification bout in the lightweight division.
The 30-year-old Zepeda said he used the time away from the ring to work on areas he felt were lacking in the Shakur fight, including explosiveness, counterpunching, holding consistency and head movement. The Mexican rival also said the dismissal was planned after several years of remaining active against quality opposition.
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Last updated on 2026/06/20 at 17:55
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