After multiple years of circling one another at the top of the 135-pound division, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will finally have his day on Saturday against unbeaten mandatory challenger William Zepeda.
The fight, which serves as the co-main event to Turki Alalshikh’s “Ring III” card, will emanate from Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York (DAZN PPV, 6 p.m. ET — buy now), in the first boxing match at the tennis venue known for hosting the annual U.S. Open tournament.
Despite all of the accolades accumulated by the 28-year-old Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs), a three-division champion who captured an Olympic silver medal in 2016, the past two years have seen him switch promoters (from Top Rank to Matchroom Sport) while routinely getting booed by fans and attacked by critics for what they claim is a boring fighting style and a lack of elite punching power.
While the stigma following Stevenson, a native of Newark, New Jersey, hasn’t always been fair, especially considering how often he operates from the pocket offensively without getting hit, there are elements to his recent slide in the court of public opinion that have felt self-induced.
Either way, Stevenson said he’s prepared to let it all hang out this weekend and use the challenge of Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs), a 29-year-old from Mexico, to remind everyone of his greatness.
“There’s a lot of doubters and a lot of people going against me and I can’t wait to shut them up,” Stevenson told CBS Sports last month. “They are waking up a monster.
“Everybody forgot who I am. They forget that I’m really the truth. They have seen me go out there and whoop ass at 135 pounds but everybody forgot and I’m here to remind them.”
If styles make fights, this fight between unbeaten southpaws is an interesting clash of contrasting gameplans between the aggressive volume of Zepeda and the clinical counterpunching and footwork of Stevenson. From a CompuBox standpoint, Zepeda leads all of boxing with the highest average of punches thrown per round (93.9) while the efficient Stevenson holds the highest plus/minus rating in the sport (+21.1)
“[Zepeda] is a guy who comes in and throws a billion punches per round,” Stevenson said. “He is going to try to win with volume to make it look like he’s winning the fight to the judges whether he’s winning or not. Even when I watched him fight Tevin Farmer, I felt that Tevin should’ve been winning more rounds but he wasn’t because of the volume of Zepeda.”
Asked during Wednesday’s open workout whether he will be able to neutralize the speed and agility advantages brought to the table by Stevenson, Zepeda said his high output would be the difference.
“My style will definitely be implemented,” Zepeda said. “Shakur is a fighter that’s always moving, but my punch volume will put pressure on him, which will be the key to success on Saturday.”
Stevenson, who enters the final fight on his deal with promoter Eddie Hearn, is in the midst of a multiple-bout agreement with Alalshikh, the powerful Saudi Arabian adviser. Should he handle business against Zepeda, the opportunities ahead could be very lucrative for him, including the possibility of a unification bout against superstar Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
“I know that I’m right there and on the verge of reaching superstardom,” Stevenson said. “Come fight night, I’m going in there and putting on a superstar performance. I just need to be myself.”
Alalshikh did a solid job of loading up this card with interesting matchups. The actual main event will see a pair of rising super middleweights who could earn a shot at gold with a win on Saturday in Edgar Berlanga and Hamzah Sheeraz. Berlanga got his opportunity against Canelo Alvarez last September where he struggled to land much of anything significant. But an impressive showing against a top prospect like Sheeraz, who is unbeaten at 21-0-1, could catapult him back to a title fight. Sheeraz is coming off a split draw against Carlos Adames for the WBC middleweight title in February as he pursues his first world title.
Let’s take a closer look at the rest of the undercard before getting to a prediction and expert pick on Stevenson vs. Zepeda below.
Fight card, odds
- Hamzah Sheeraz -140 vs. Edgar Berlanga +120, super middleweights
- Shakur Stevenson (c) -1100 vs. William Zepeda +650, WBC lightweight title
- Alberto Puello (c) -115 vs. Subriel Matias -105, WBC junior welterweight title
- David Morrell -600 vs Imam Khataev +380, light heavyweights
Where to watch Stevenson vs. Zepeda
- Date: July 11 | Location: Louis Armstrong Stadium — Queens, New York
- Start time: 6 p.m. ET
- How to watch: DAZN PPV (buy now) | Price: $59.99
Prediction
For as good as Zepeda is, there are levels to this game when it comes to skill. That’s why it wasn’t surprising to see Stevenson installed as high as a 12-to-1 betting favorite in this long-awaited showdown.
Boxing math is never an accurate science. Yet, it was difficult to watch the success that the 35-year-old Farmer had over 22 rounds in back-to-back losses by split and majority decision over the last eight months and not imagine Stevenson giving Zepeda all he can handle this weekend.
Stevenson’s footwork is too perfect and his hand speed too much for Zepeda to walk forward with his volume style without routinely paying for it in the form of accurate counter shots. The only potential pitfall for Stevenson is whether the profound chips on both of his shoulders heading into this fight leads him to taking unnecessary chances or standing in the line of fire for too long.
Given everything Stevenson’s reputation has been through over the last two years, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him looking to aggressively change the narrative by going for the stoppage. But he’s too smart to stand and trade with Zepeda on even terms and will likely potshot while darting in and out to systematically break his opponent down.
Still two years shy of 30, Stevenson has enough time to capitalize on his tremendous potential as a future pound-for-pound king in waiting. But he will need to make a large statement against Zepeda to speed up that process and avoid relying too much on movement to secure the win.
At the end of the day, speed kills and Stevenson is simply too skilled and athletic to succumb to Zepeda’s straight-ahead pressure.
Pick: Stevenson via TKO10
This news was originally published on this post .
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