His loss was not as one-sided as the official scores of 118-110, 118-110, and 119-109 suggested. Stevenson landed 295 of 565 punches, compared with Zepeda’s 272 of 979. Shakur was far more accurate, connecting at approximately 52% against Zepeda’s 28%, but only 23 landed punches separated them across 12 rounds.
A later victory over Lamont Roach Jr. gave Zepeda the WBC lightweight title that Stevenson previously held. It was his first full world championship, but he had already reached interim title status before meeting Shakur.
What was interesting is how Shakur handled it publicly. Before Zepeda fought Lamont Roach Jr, Shakur openly predicted Roach would dish out a beating. Once Zepeda walked away with the full WBC lightweight title, Shakur immediately flipped his tune to build up his own credentials.
By comparison, Lopez had a much stronger championship history. He defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko at lightweight and Josh Taylor at light welterweight before surrendering his WBO 140-pound belt to Stevenson in January. Saturday’s majority-decision victory over Rolando Romero made Teofimo a three-division champion.
Those latest wins add value to Shakur’s record because they confirm that Zepeda and Lopez continued operating at the championship level. Stevenson deserves credit for beating them, especially his dominant performance against Teofimo at Madison Square Garden.
However, the WBC title came to Zepeda through his victory over Roach, while Lopez moved to welterweight and took Romero’s WBA belt.
At most, Shakur can use those wins as proof that he defeated quality opposition. He cannot take partial ownership of championships that Zepeda and Teofimo won through their own performances.
AI-enhanced image from original fight broadcast footage.
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