Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya took on a swipe at Shakur Stevenson on social media, telling him that William Zepeda, an all-action lightweight crowd-pleaser, will throw more punches in the first round of his fight against Giovanni Cabrera this Saturday than Shakur will his entire fight against Artem Harutyunyan on the same night.
Shakur Stevenson’s Defensive Style Under Fire
Many fans would agree with De La Hoya because Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs), WBC lightweight champion, mostly moves around the ring, throwing an occasional single shot before taking off again. With that fighting style, Stevenson rarely throws more than a handful of punches unless he’s facing a no-hoper.
“Hey Shakur, I guarantee William Zepeda throws more punches in his first round on Saturday than you do your entire fight,” said Oscar De La Hoya on X, taunting WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson.
The unbeaten William Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs) is rated #1 by the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO at lightweight, and he’s on the doorstep to get a title shot against one of the four champions in the weight class. What’s unclear is whether De La Hoya will push Zepeda toward fighting Shakur for his WBC belt.
Zepeda’s High-Volume Punching Power
If Zepeda fights Shakur, he will need a good set of wheels because he will need to chase him around the ring all night to land his punches. Shakur will not stand in front of Zepeda as a target for his high-volume punching because that’s not his style.
Stevenson’s style is more like an old version of Mayweather when he became risk-averse, throwing single shots and then jetting away to avoid return fire. That’s one of the reasons why Shakur has failed to become a PPV attraction. Fans don’t want to pay to see that style when there are so many more exciting fighters to watch.
Zepeda faces Cabrera (22-1, 7 KOs) in the twelve-round main event this Saturday, July 7th, live on DAZN from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.
It’s a fight that allows Zepeda to show whether he can beat another defensive fighter; Cabrera is hard to hit, and it will take a lot of work for Zepeda to cut off the ring to get to this guy to get his punches off.
Stevenson’s Promotional Future and Upcoming Fight
Shakur defends his WBC lightweight crown for the first time this Saturday against Artem Harutyunyan (13-1, 7 KOs) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Stevenson must look good in this fight because he’ll be a promotional-free agent afterward.