Zepeda Unfazed by Shakur’s Movement

William Zepeda says he’s not worried about the running that WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will be doing on Saturday night, July 12th. Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) says his “punch volume” will be the key to bringing him to heel at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

Shakur Stevenson’s Defensive Style

Still, the clinching that Shakur will undoubtedly use as his second line of defense, besides his movement, will require that Zepeda maul him and punch while being held. Otherwise, Shakur will use this tactic all night to neutralize Zepeda’s offense.

WBC interim champion Zepeda has fought many runners similar to Stevenson while learning the ropes in Mexico. William’s last two fights against veteran Tevin Farmer gave him good practice to prepare for Shakur’s style.

Farmer ran, held, and threw single pot shots all night, and still absorbed a terrible amount of punishment in both contests. We witnessed what was left of Farmer in his fight after his battles with Zepeda, with him getting annihilated in one round by Floyd Schofield.

Shakur has had a defiant tone this week when talking about the “Tom and Jerry” warning given by his paymaster, Turki Alalshik, saying, “If you call me Jerry, then I’m whooping Tom’s a**.” He seems to have acknowledged that he is “Jerry” for this fight, but he’s not backing away from his defensive fighting style.

He points out Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali used movement in their fights. What he doesn’t say is that those fighters engaged far more with their opponents, and they didn’t retreat 3 to 6 feet when they were under attack, as he does. Shakur moves so far out of range that he can’t land punches on himself.

Mauling Shakur: Ideal Plan for Zepeda

“I think Zepeda has to maul Shakur Stevenson. He has to be all over him and ripping shots to the body,” said Mike Coppinger to Ring Magazine’s YouTube channel. “Zepeda learned a lot from those 22 rounds against Tevin Farmer.”

Zepeda didn’t do a good job of mauling Farmer in the clinch in either of their fights. That’s why Farmer went back to that tactic repeatedly to survive the fights, because he would have been knocked out if he hadn’t clinched frequently when Zepeda got close. Zepeda will need to make changes to this part of his game because Shakur does a lot of holding. That’s one of the reasons he was beaten in the 2016 Olympics by Robeisy Ramirez. He was tying up the Cuban too often and not fighting him.

Punch Volume Key for Zepeda

“I have to make my combinations nice and long, and let my opponent come in close,” said Zepeda during today’s open workouts for his fight against Stevenson. “Definitely, my talent will be able to be implemented.

“Shakur is a fighter who will always be moving, but my punch volume will be the one that will put pressure on him. That’s going to be the key to success on Saturday.”