Zepeda’s KO Chances Soar: Turki Alalshikh’s Remark Puts Pressure on Shakur Stevenson to Engage

William Zepeda’s chances of scoring a knockout over WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson shot through the roof for their fight on July 12th after Turki Alalshikh’s remark last night about no longer supporting fights involving fighters that don’t want to engage in fights on his Riyadh Season events.

Zepeda KO Chances Soar

Turki didn’t single out Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) specifically, but his comment about not wanting fighters that just run around the ring on his cards was a statement of intent. Stevenson must stay in the pocket and punch with Zepeda next month if he knows what’s good for him.

It’s going to be difficult for the Newark, New Jersey native Shakur to be stationary for even a moment against Zepeda without getting overwhelmed by punches. He’s never been known for having a high punch output, and he’s going up against a fighter with the highest output in the lightweight division in Zepeda.

Stevenson won’t last five rounds against the Mexican knockout artist if he doesn’t run. He’s not built for mixing it up against fighters with offensive talent like Zepeda or anyone in the lightweight division.

After seeing Alalshikh’s directive, Shakur is probably telling himself that he’s going to stay in the trenches and slug with Zepeda. Still, when he gets in the ring on July 12th, he’s probably going to fight the way he always does.

That means Shakur will throw one punch, and that takes off running. We’ll see this pattern the entire fight, and yes, there will be constant booing from the New York fans. They expect to be entertained for their money, and they will not tolerate twelve rounds of running from Shakur.

The movement that Devin Haney used in his much-criticized performance against Jose Ramirez on May 2nd is nothing compared to what Shakur did in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos and Jeremia Nakathilia.

No More Running Allowed

“From this point on, I don’t want to see any more Tom and Jerry-type boxing matches where one fighter is running around the ring and the other is chasing him. We can longer support these kinds of fights,” said Turki Alalshikh on X.

In Stevenson’s last fight against the part-time boxer Josh Padley last February, he even moved a lot against him, and he has no punching power to speak of.

Padley was a British domestic-level fighter whom promoter Eddie Hearn recommended as the replacement opponent. He wasn’t the original choice. Stevenson should have been able to stand in the center of the ring and massacre him, but he was on the run againt him, too.

Hearn promotes Shakur, and they passed on using unbeaten Cuban contender Jadier Herrera (17-0, 15 KOs) as the replacement opponent. He’s ranked #6 WBC, and is very dangerous.