Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya has caught a lot of flak from fans this week for showing little interest in his young star #1 ranked contender William Zepeda agreeing to challenge WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson next.
The WBC ordered Stevenson and Zepeda to begin negotiations for a fight with a purse bid scheduled for August 20th if they cannot reach a deal. However, De La Hoya immediately barked, saying on X, “Nobody will tell him who he must fight next.”
De La Hoya must know that a fight between Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda won’t sell on PPV. It would be lucky to draw 50K PPV buys. If it’s a non-PPV event, the networks will likely give both fighters enough money to satisfy them for the magnitude of the fight.
Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), a former three-division world champion, isn’t well known among casual boxing fans, and hardcore fans intensely dislike his fighting style. The 27-year-old Shakur has been labeled a “boring” fighter by fans, and that might as well be his middle name.
Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) isn’t well known to casual fans either because he’s just now getting attention due to his recent knockout wins over Giovanni Cabrera, Maxi Hughes, and Mercito Gesta. Those weren’t big enough wins for Zepeda to catch the attention of thie boxing public.
Zepeda needs a fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or Vasily Lomachenko for him to move to the PPV level, and those fights aren’t easy to come by. Until then, Zepeda is better off ignoring Shakur just like those guys are because he has nothing to offer him.
There’s no upside for Zepeda in fighting Shakur; he would be doing him a favor by fighting him. That’s the reality of it. Being a champion in this era means nothing. What’s more important than holding paper titles is popularity, and Shakur doesn’t fit that category and likely never will.
If Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn signs Shakur, it needs to be for a one—or two-fight deal if he has guaranteed opponents that he believes fans will want to see. The only ones that make sense are Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Gervonta Davis.
Hearn can’t deliver Tank Davis with a 100% guarantee without His Excellency. It would still be a risky fight financially because it could bomb badly on PPV. Shakur would never agree to fight ‘Boots’ Ennis because he would have no chance against a slugger like him.
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