Shakur Stevenson Could Regret Fighting William Zepeda

Shakur Stevenson is expected to defend his WBC lightweight title against the volume puncher William Zepeda in February in his debut with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing. Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) comes from hand surgery, and he believes he doesn’t need a tune-up to prepare for the human buzzsaw Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs).

Hearn believes Shakur will defeat Zepeda without any problems and then face Gervonta Davis in the summer in a unification fight at lightweight. He naively thinks that Shakur is the best fighter at 135 and is destined to become a global superstar.

There’s an excellent chance that Zepeda will expose the former three-division world champion Shakur in the same way that Giovanni Cabrera and Maxi Hughes recently were. Stevenson hasn’t fought a volume puncher like Zepeda during his career, and he’s also never fought someone who targets the body the way that he does.

It could be interesting to see Hearn’s reaction if Shakur fails to live up to his vision. We saw how Hearn muddied the water after his fighter Dmitry Bivol lost last weekend. Will he do the same thing if Shakur gets blown out by William Zepeda in February? I sure hope not.

The 2020 Olympic silver medalist Shakur could be asking for trouble taking this fight because he lacks the offensive tools to match what Zepeda can generate.

Shakur lacks in these areas:

• Low Punch Output: Anemic work rate. According to Compu-box, Shakur has averaged 13.6 punches per round during his career. In fight against Edwin De Los Santos last November, Stevenson landed only 40 punches in the entire 12-round fight. That’s an absurdly low number for any fighter to land in a fight, but it signals Shakur’s imbalance in his game. In other words, he’s all defense and no offense. In comparison, William Zepeda averages 100.2 punches per round. Let that sink in. Zepeda throws 86.6 more punches per round than Shakur.
• Below average power: Stevenson has a KO percentage of 50 and has only stopped one fighter in the last three years, and that was Shuichiro Yoshino. Zepeda has a KO percentage of 77, which is outstanding for any fighter. That’s like George Foreman level.
• Inability to Fight in the Pocket: Due to Shakur’s lack of power and avoidance of risk, he doesn’t fight in the pocket because it involves exchanges with his opponents. What this means is that Shakur will need to be on the run for three minutes of every round against Zepeda as he did in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos to avoid getting knocked out. Unfortunately, it’s going to be difficult for Shakur to win a decision fighting like that unless the judges score the rounds favorably do him.

Will Hearn Dump Shakur If He Loses?

Promoter Eddie Hearn will need to decide what to do with Shakur if he gets knocked out by Zepeda. He probably gets much sympathy if he cries robbery because Americans won’t buy that and give Shakur a pass like they’re doing with Bivol after he ran from the battlefield in his loss to Beterbiev.

The best strategy would be for Hearn to cut his losses and dump Shakur after his two-fight contract with Matchroom expires. Hearn could match Shakur tough against Andy Cruz or Liam Paro for his second fight and then wash his hands of him after he gets beaten by one of those guys as well.

Shakur doesn’t seem to belong in this generation. He’s like someone from a past era who is using a style that is outdated and no longer relevant for the 21st century. It’s like he was transported from a different era and he’s entirely alien to how people fight now.