Shakur Stevenson would regret fighting William Zepeda

Shakur Stevenson is expected to defend his WBC lightweight title against heavyweight William Zepeda in February in his Matchroom Boxing debut with Eddie Hearn. Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) is coming off hand surgery, and believes he needs no rehab to prepare for human buzzsaw Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs).

Hearn believes Shakur will have no problem defeating Zepeda and face Gervonta Davis this summer in a lightweight unification fight. He unconsciously thinks that Shakur is the best fighter at 135 and is destined to become a world star.

There is a good chance that Zepeda will expose former three-time world champion Shakur in the same way that Giovanni Cabrera and Maxi Hughes recently exposed. Stevenson has never fought a volume puncher like Zepeda in his career, and he has never fought someone who directs the body the way he did.

It might be interesting to see Hearn’s reaction if Shakur fails to live up to his vision. We saw how Hearn muddied the waters after his boxer Dmitry Bivol lost last weekend. Will he do the same if Shakur is beaten by William Zepeda in February? I really hope not.

2020 Olympic silver medalist Shakur may be asking for trouble taking this fight because he doesn’t have the offensive tools to match what Zepeda can produce.

Shakur doesn’t have it in these areas:

• Low Punch Output: Anemic activity level. According to Compu-box, Shakur averaged 13.6 punches per round during his career. When he fought Edwin De Los Santos last November, Stevenson landed just 40 punches in the entire 12-round fight. That’s an unfathomably low number for any pitcher to contend with, but it shows Shakur’s inconsistency in his game. In other words, you are defending yourself and there is no guilt. In comparison, William Zepeda averaged 100.2 per round. Let that sink in. Zepeda threw 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, outstanding for any fighter. That’s like a George Foreman level.
• Inability to Fight in the Pocket: Because of Shakur’s lack of strength and danger avoidance, he does not fight in the pocket because it involves exchanging with his opponents. This means that Shakur will need to run for three minutes in every round against Zepeda as he did in his fight with Edwin De Los Santos to avoid getting knocked out. Unfortunately, it will be difficult for Shakur to win a decision like this unless the judges swing in his favor.

Will Hearn Dump Shakur If He Loses?

Promoter Eddie Hearn will need to decide what to do with Shakur if he is ousted by Zepeda. He probably gets a lot of sympathy when he complains about being robbed because Americans aren’t going to buy that and give Shakur a pass like they did to Bivol after he fled the battlefield losing 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 a tough Shakur against Andy Cruz or Liam Paro in his second fight and then wash his hands of himself after getting beat by one of those guys again.

Shakur doesn’t seem to belong to this generation. He is like a person from a bygone era using a style that is outdated and no longer relevant in the 21st century. It’s like he was transported from a different era and is completely unfamiliar with the way people fight now.