Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya has invited WBC light-weight champion Shakur Stevenson to name him to allow them to begin getting ready for a struggle towards #1 William Zepeda.
(Credit score: Golden Boy Promotions/ Cris Esqueda)
De La Hoya’s Open Invitation
Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) made fast work of his opponent final Saturday night time, stopping Giovanni Cabrera (22-2, 7 KOs) within the third spherical with a physique shot in the principle occasion on DAZN on the Toyota Middle in Ontario, California.
With that win behind Zepeda, De La Hoya desires him to struggle for a world title subsequent towards Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) or WBO light-weight champion Denys Berinchyk later this yr. De La Hoya feels the struggle with Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) will probably be simpler, however he’s open to negotiating with Shakur.
Shakur’s Potential Vulnerability
Shakur’s issues with Artem Harutyunyan final Saturday night time highlighted his points together with his accepting De La Hoya’s provide to face Zepeda, who is sort of a punching machine as soon as he cranks up his offense.
Stevenson has little offensive potential, and that’s been an issue since his novice days. He’s glorious at defending towards punches, however he has little or no offensive capabilities past touchdown pecking photographs to attempt to win rounds in an novice point-scoring means.
Within the Cabrera struggle, Zepeda began sluggish, throwing a number of punches in rounds one and two. Nevertheless, within the third, Zepeda got here out wanting like one other particular person, throwing an avalanche of punches that Cabrera had no hopes of blocking or matching.
Shakur couldn’t take care of a fighter like Zepeda, and his motion wouldn’t work as a result of William’s physique punching would sluggish his potential to maneuver.
De La Hoya’s Confidence in Zepeda
“He made an announcement. That’s the underside line,” Oscar De La Hoya instructed the media about William Zepeda’s win over Giovanni Cabrera final Saturday. “Whenever you’re in that place. Whenever you’re the #1 contender in each group, it’s a must to make an announcement like that, and that’s precisely what he did.
“He’s [Cabrera] very awkward as we noticed with [Isaac] Pitbull [Cruz] the place he took him the space. I believe this win for Zepeda was glorious and now we go for the world title.
“Shakur, give me a name. I’d like to make a name with you,” mentioned De La Hoya about his curiosity in organising a struggle between WBC light-weight champion Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda.
“He made an announcement. Whenever you’re the #1 contender in each group, it’s a must to make an announcement like that, and that’s precisely what he did,” mentioned De La Hoya about Zepeda’s third-round physique shot knockout win over Cabrera.
