Eddie Hearn says he hopes Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya will agree to his side of the deal for his fighter #1 ranked William Zepeda to challenge WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd.
Hearn and Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) are both in a hurry to make the fight with Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs), and feel like it’s a sure win. This is a bad style matchup for Shakur, who can’t hit and was nervous and shy since moving up to 135 in 2023. Zepeda showed what he would do to Shakur with a beating he dealt 34-year-old Tevin Farmer last Saturday night at Latino Night in Riyadh.
Hearn is still enamored with Shakur and has yet to see his limitations in his game. That will be exposed if the Zepeda fight comes down, and Hearn will likely quickly lose interest in Shakur and not re-sign him to a new contract with Matchroom.
A choice of champions for Zepeda
Zepeda has not said whether he will face Shakur. After Zepeda’s victory over Farmer last Saturday, he said in the post-fight interview that his name was being “called by the champions” and that he would see which one offered the best deal.
Although Zepeda did say that he would “probably” fight Shakur next, he did not confirm that he would 100% be his next opponent. Zepeda is in the captain’s seat, the manager, who can pick and choose whatever champion he wants. With his popularity, he is not limited to just fighting Shakur.
What Zepeda is waiting for, of course, is to see if the face of boxing, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davisand PBC chooses to make the fight with him next. If they offer Zepeda a lucrative deal, he will wait for Tank to defend against Lamont Roach on March 1st and face him in the summer.
That fight will pay a lot more than a clash against Shakur, unless his Honorable Turki Alalshikh wants to finance the fight with Stevenson. If not, Zepeda can make more money by fighting and getting a cut of the PPV upside.
“On our part, we agreed that Shakur should fight Zepeda with His Excellency. It’s a big fight,” said Eddie Hearn Matchroom Boxing. “People say he (Zepeda) underperformed against Tevin Farmer. Tevin is very tough, a very good fighter, and probably a tough style for Zepeda.
“It will help him in the build-up to him fighting Shakur Stevenson, but with all due respect to Tevin, Shakur is on another level, and let’s just hope that De La Hoya agrees to his end of the deal and the Zepeda makes fight I’m going to really enjoy sitting next to him for that fight.
“What you’re going to see is one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of our generation, a three-division world champion, 27-year-old Shakur Stevenson, put on a masterclass against Zepeda. You’re going to see something very special,” Hearn said.
