Eddie Hearn says he hopes Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya will conform to his aspect of the deal for his fighter #1 ranked William Zepeda to problem WBC light-weight champion Shakur Stevenson on February twenty second.
Hearn and Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) are each in a rush to make the combat with Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs), feeling prefer it’s a sure-thing win. It’s a nasty model matchup for Shakur, who can’t punch and has been nervous and skittish since transferring as much as 135 in 2023. Zepeda confirmed what he would do to Shakur with a beating he inflicted on 34-year-old Tevin Farmer final Saturday night time at Latino Evening in Riyadh.
Hearn remains to be enchanted with Shakur and hasn’t seen his limitations in his sport but. These will likely be uncovered if the Zepeda combat comes off, and Hearn will possible rapidly lose curiosity in Shakur and never re-sign him to a brand new contract with Matchroom.
A Alternative of Champions for Zepeda
Zepeda hasn’t mentioned whether or not he’ll take the combat with Shakur. After Zepeda’s victory over Farmer final Saturday, he mentioned within the post-fight interview that his identify is “being talked about by the champions” and that he would see which one presents the perfect deal.
Though Zepeda did say he would “in all probability” be preventing Shakur subsequent, he didn’t verify that he would 100% be his subsequent opponent. Zepeda is within the captain’s seat, the motive force, who can decide and select no matter champion he needs. Together with his recognition, he’s not restricted to preventing simply Shakur.
What Zepeda is clearly ready on is to see if the face of boxing, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, and PBC select to make the combat with him subsequent. If they provide Zepeda a profitable deal, he’ll look ahead to Tank to defend in opposition to Lamont Roach on March 1st and face him in the summertime.
That combat pays way more than a conflict in opposition to Shakur until His Excellency Turki Alalshikh needs to finance the combat with Stevenson. If not, Zepeda can earn more money preventing Tank and getting a lower of the PPV upside.
“We’ve agreed from our aspect that Shakur ought to combat Zepeda with His Excellency. That’s an amazing combat,” mentioned Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing. “Folks say he [Zepeda] under-performed in opposition to Tevin Farmer. Tevin may be very tough, an excellent fighter, and possibly a troublesome model for Zepeda.
“That’ll assist him within the build-up for him to combat Shakur Stevenson, however with all respect to Tevin, Shakur is on one other stage, and let’s simply hope that De La Hoya agrees to his finish of the deal and makes the Zepeda combat. I’m actually going to get pleasure from sitting subsequent to him for that combat.
“What you’re going to see is likely one of the higher pound-for-pound fighters of our era, a three-division world champion, 27-year-old Shakur Stevenson, placed on a masterclass in opposition to Zepeda. You’re going to see one thing very particular,” mentioned Hearn.
