The Zepeda Example
He then named the one example that fit the description: William Zepeda. That detail is important because Zepeda is not a projected opponent or a style Stevenson hopes to avoid. He is a fighter that Stevenson already controlled across twelve rounds last July, managing pace, distance, and output without ever losing command of the fight.
In that sense, Stevenson is outlining the narrow range of danger he takes seriously and explaining why the most obvious version of it has already been addressed. Resistance, as he describes it, appears only under a specific set of circumstances that he has already experienced.
The Zepeda fight was once treated as the moment Stevenson would have to deal with sustained work. Zepeda’s punch volume, engine, and willingness to walk through resistance created the expectation that Stevenson might finally be forced into uncomfortable exchanges. The reality was calmer. Stevenson regulated the tempo early, gave ground when it suited him, and reasserted control whenever Zepeda tried to accelerate. The output never disappeared, and the leverage steadily faded.
“The most y’all ever going to get is Zepeda. That was y’all’s best hope at getting resistance,” said Shakur to Cigar Talk. “Styles make fights. The style that would give me the most resistance is a guy who throws a million punches and doesn’t stop.”
That experience appears to have shaped Stevenson’s view of his own risk boundaries. When he says the style that troubles him most is the nonstop puncher, he is also describing a scenario in which sustained pressure still failed to shift control. The important detail here is containment, and the ability to limit danger without needing to chase dominance.
How Fighters Are Filtered
Stevenson is describing the narrow set of circumstances under which resistance even shows up, and those circumstances are difficult to reproduce once fighters reach the top of the sport. Fighters who throw constantly tend to absorb damage early in their careers. They are filtered out, slowed down, or moved carefully long before they reach the elite level, and by the time they are matched in major fights, the volume is often already compromised. That pattern reflects how modern boxing is structured.
High output pressure fighters demand risk tolerance from both sides. They take punishment, force exchanges, and rely on judges rewarding sustained work rather than isolated moments. Those traits are rarely protected over time. What survives instead are controlled technicians, selective punchers, and fighters who win rounds without spending excess energy or exposing themselves unnecessarily.
Stevenson belongs firmly in that latter group, and his career arc reflects it. Against Lopez, he banked rounds, removed angles, and let the fight settle into terms that favored his discipline. The result was not dramatic, but it was decisive, reinforcing the same pattern seen earlier in his career.
That performance, paired with his comments about Zepeda, points toward a simple reality. Stevenson’s fights are not getting harder because the styles that would complicate them are becoming rarer at the highest level.
This does not mean Stevenson cannot be beaten. Boxing never works that way, and timing, age, and circumstance eventually catch everyone. It does suggest that the familiar question of who beats Shakur Stevenson is often asked without much attention to how the sport actually produces challengers capable of sustaining the kind of pressure he describes.
If Stevenson’s own assessment is accurate, the kind of opponent required to truly test him is unlikely to arrive fully formed. And if one does, Stevenson has already shown he knows how to manage that problem without abandoning control or chasing unnecessary risk.
That reality may disappoint fans looking for chaos. It explains why Stevenson continues to win the same way, and why the list of credible threats keeps shrinking rather than expanding.
Read the full article here
