There’s speculation that WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will defend against William Zepeda on February 22nd in what promoter Eddie Hearn says will be the “best card yet for Riyadh Season.” The Shakur-Zepeda fight has yet to be confirmed for this event, but it’s believed this is when it will happen.
Shakur is coming off of hand surgery, which canceled his Matchroom debut against Joe Cordina for October 12th. It’s hoped that Shakur doesn’t have a setback when he begins training for the Zepeda fight. His hands may be too brittle to stay healthy because he’s had the same problems in the recent past.
Hearn recently signed Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) to a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing, and this will be the first fight. The British promoter hopes to transform the 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur into a “global superstar,” his vision is to defeat Zepeda in February and then Gervonta Davis mid-year in 2025.
Hearn doesn’t understand why Shakur isn’t a superstar already, and he believes he’ll make that happen rapidly with his guidance. Hearn doesn’t understand that U.S. fans want to be entertained and don’t enjoy watching fighters who don’t engage. That’s Shakur’s style. He’s a non-engager.
The Golden Boy-promoted #1 ranked Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) will be taking a 10-round tune-up fight next month against Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) on November 16th on His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s Latino Night at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Farmer has a Shakur style to his game that will help prepare the pressure fighter Zepeda for the movement that he’ll be seeing from him next February.
“February 22nd, I think, is the best card yet for Riyadh Season,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to His Excellency Turki Alalshikh on X.
“I hope so,” said Turki.
If Stevenson vs. Zepeda fights on this card, it’ll be an excellent one for the fans and unveil whether Shakur is the real thing or just a fake, like many fans believe him to be. Zepeda may cut off the ring on the highly mobile Shakur, track him down, and bag him in this fight.
Zepeda could ruin Hearn’s dreams of a Shakur-Tank fight, knocking out Shakur on February 22nd and erasing any chance of the Newark native fighting Gervonta Davis.
Shakur was almost beaten last November in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos and was forced to move endlessly for 12 rounds to avoid the powerful punches.
The judges gave Shakur a decision, but it was a fight he had done so little that it should have gone the other way. De Los Santos landed the harder punches and was the aggressor throughout. Shakur blamed his poor performance on being injured, but he fought the same way in many of his other fights in the pros and amateurs.
Shakur has been pining away for a fight against Tank Davis since he turned pro in 2017, but his performances have been too lackluster for him to attract enough fan interest to create any pressure from fans in a fight between them. Shakur’s fans want to see a fight between him and Tank, but there’s not enough of them to force the match.
