Yesterday, WBC lightweight world champion Shakur Stevenson confirmed he will be facing his mandatory challenger, William Zepeda (31-0) in February. Now after a fresh demand from Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya, he has accepted the proposal, despite it potentially being a huge disadvantage for him.
Stevenson is one of the most talented fighters in the world, however, he does not have the profile to match his ability.
Despite only being 27 years old, he is already a three-weight world champion.
He picked up his WBC strap in November 2023 in a famously dull encounter against Edwin De Los Santos.
De Los Santos picked up the unwanted record of landing just 40 punches, the fewest number of punches landed in a twelve-round fight since 1985.
Since then, Stevenson defended his WBC belt in July against Artem Harutyunyan and was set to fight Joe Cordina on the Beterbiev-Bivol Riyadh Season card.
However, after an injury to the Welshman, the American was without a fight.
It was then expected that he would face his mandatory, Zepeda, before the end of the year.
However, after the Mexican previously asked for more time to prepare, he went ahead and agreed to fight Tevin Farmer (33-6-1), which takes place on the Ramirez-CBS card next weekend.
Nevertheless, assuming Zepeda comes through his fight, he will be fighting Stevenson in February.
Zepeda’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, has come out and demanded a smaller ring if he is to fight Stevenson.
This is because the Mexican fights on the front foot, whereas his rival is much more defensive and would benefit from a bigger ring due to being able to move around.
However, Stevenson has accepted these terms.
On Twitter/ X he posted, “Roads are closing in, the ring size does not matter to me either.”
The fight could take place on a proposed Matchroom versus Golden Boy ‘5v5’ card, which gathered momentum this week.
It is believed that unbeaten Zepeda would cause problems for Stevenson and if the American was to come through the fight, this would certainly increase his global stature.
Roads are closing in 😤 the ring size does not matter to me either @OscarDeLaHoyahttps://t.co/iIiMnDJlmG
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 8, 2024
Boxing Social is now on WhatsApp! Join our channel by clicking here and getting all the latest boxing news direct to your phone.