The WBC has ordered a fight between lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson and #1 ranked William Zepeda next.
(Credit: Golden Boy Promotions/ Cris Esqueda)
De La Hoya’s “Duck Code Talk”
Interestingly, Zepeda’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya quickly reacted to the WBC’s order, saying that Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) has “four sanctioning bodies to choose from,” which fans believe is classic duck code talk.
Shakur responded to De La Hoya’s comment by posting crying emojis. That’s a fight that Stevenson had wanted, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. De La Hoya had recently said that wanted Zepeda to challenge WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk for his title, and he wasn’t playing around. That’s the easy mark.
Golden Boy Power Play
It’s not a big shock that De La Hoya is already throwing cold water on a fight between Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) and William Zepeda because Oscar recently said on X that he won’t make that fight between them unless Stevenson were signed with Golden Boy.
De La Hoya said it was coming from Zepeda, who wanted that. It’s unclear why it would matter to Zepeda, but it shouldn’t matter if Shakur is signed with Golden Boy or not.
Implications for Matchroom and Eddie Hearn
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn needs to take this latest news about De La Hoya not wanting the Stevenson fight for Shakur into account when he decides whether to sign the WBC champion.
It’s possible that Hearn could wrangle a deal with De La Hoya if he offered up one of his popular fighters to face a Golden Boy guy in exchange. Hearn has a deep stable of fighters, and someone might be interested in De La Hoya letting him wet his beak on a fight that he otherwise wouldn’t get.
Unfortunately, without a deal worked out, Zepeda is one less fight that Hearn has for Shakur if he signs him to his company, and he’s not going to be happy fighting his Matchroom fighters:
– Andy Cruz
– Liam Paro
– Regis Prograis
– Jack Catterall
– Subriel Matias
– Richardson Hitchins
– Jaron Ennis
If Hearn signs Shakur, those are the only fighters he can 100% guarantee for him, and he won’t be excited about fighting them. The other guys, like Gervonta Davis, Vasily Lomachenko, and Zepeda, are the ones he can try to make, but without His Excellency stepping in to help, Eddie doesn’t stand a chance.
😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/kwzszPAEGb
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) July 15, 2024
What we doing @williamzepeda2🥱 https://t.co/0NNdngWsIW
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) July 15, 2024
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