Shakur Stevenson is set to defend his WBC lightweight championship against William Zepeda, the interim titleholder, on July 12 in New York City. This highly anticipated match-up between two undefeated fighters has been discussed for a while, and the date and location were officially announced last night.
Stevenson, with a record of 23 wins and no losses, including 11 knockouts, will be making his third defense of the title he won by defeating Edwin De Los Santos in late 2023. After winning the title, Stevenson fought Artem Harutyunyan in July 2024, winning over 12 rounds.
He was initially expected to defend his title against Floyd Schofield in Riyadh earlier this year. However, when Schofield withdrew, Stevenson instead faced Josh Padley, defeating him in nine rounds on the undercard of the Beterbiev-Bivol rematch.
Now, Stevenson will face Mexico`s Zepeda, who boasts a record of 33 wins and no losses, with 27 knockouts. Zepeda has also faced challenges in the ring recently, needing 20 rounds in total to overcome veteran Tevin Farmer. In their first fight in November 2024 in Riyadh, Zepeda won a split decision on a `Latino Night` event.
Farmer even knocked down Zepeda in their first fight and presented stylistic difficulties for him, which could be a concern in the upcoming fight with Stevenson, who presents similar challenges but at a higher level. In a rematch last month, Zepeda again fought Tevin Farmer over 10 rounds, this time winning by majority decision.
Despite briefly appearing that Zepeda might pursue a different path after a mysterious rise in the WBA rankings, he will now face Stevenson as expected. Stevenson had recently expressed frustration with his boxing situation, but a reassuring tweet suggested that everything had been resolved, leading to the announcement of this fight.
