Why Was Shakur Stevenson “Pinned to the Ropes” By William Zepeda Yet Won So Widely?

Turki Alalshikh praised Shakur Stevenson on social media today for giving fans what they wanted to see in his victory over William Zepeda last Saturday night in Queens, NY. He called it a “great fight,” saying Shakur is “more respected than ever.”

Morrell vs. Khataev: Real Fight

That wasn’t a great fight. The gold standard for “great fight” was the David Morrell vs. Imam Khataev clash on the card last Saturday at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. That fight was far more entertaining to watch than looking at Stevenson pinned to the ropes all night, trying to block shots, and getting hit to the body with nonstop punches from Zepeda.

Stevenson vs. Zepeda Scores

Turki didn’t mention the wide scores that were turned in by the three judges for the Shakur vs. Zepeda fight. He should have said something about those because they gave a false picture that Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs) had won in a blowout 12-0 decision.

Here are the judges’ awful scores:

118-110 = 10-2
118-110
119-109: 11-1

How is it that a judge could have only given Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) one round in the entire fight, and the other two only two rounds? That gives the appearance that Zepeda never stood a chance with the way these three were scoring the fight.

I watched the fight and had Zepeda pitching a shutout. He had Stevenson trapped the entire fight, hurt him in the third, and machine-gunned him from head to toe with shots. He was like a punching bag for Zepeda.

Zepeda’s Overlooked Body Shots

The judges didn’t give Zepeda any credit for throwing body shots. That was the difference in the fight. They only focused on Stevenson’s headshots, which were rare and far outnumbered by the body punching from Zepeda.