The champion is back in action as a part of a loaded card the features two title fights.
After multiple years of circling one another at the top of the 135-pound division, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will finally have his day on Saturday against unbeaten mandatory challenger William Zepeda.
The fight, which serves as the co-main event to Turki Alalshikh's "Ring III" card, will emanate from Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York (DAZN PPV, 6 p.m. ET -- buy now), in the first boxing match at the tennis venue known for hosting the annual U.S. Open tournament.
Despite all of the accolades accumulated by the 28-year-old Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs), a three-division champion who captured an Olympic silver medal in 2016, the past two years have seen him switch promoters (from Top Rank to Matchroom Sport) while routinely getting booed by fans and attacked by critics for what they claim is a boring fighting style and a lack of elite punching power.
While the stigma following Stevenson, a native of Newark, New Jersey, hasn't always been fair, especially considering how often he operates from the pocket offensively without getting hit, there are elements to his recent slide in the court of public opinion that have felt self-induced.
If styles make fights, this fight between unbeaten southpaws is an interesting clash of contrasting gameplans between the aggressive volume of Zepeda and the clinical counterpunching and footwork of Stevenson. From a CompuBox standpoint, Zepeda leads all of boxing with the highest average of punches thrown per round (93.9) while the efficient Stevenson holds the highest plus/minus rating in the sport (+21.1)
"[Zepeda] is a guy who comes in and throws a billion punches per round," Stevenson said. "He is going to try to win with volume to make it look like he's winning the fight to the judges whether he's winning or not. Even when I watched him fight Tevin Farmer, I felt that Tevin should've been winning more rounds but he wasn't because of the volume of Zepeda."
Asked during Wednesday's open workout whether he will be able to neutralize the speed and agility advantages brought to the table by Stevenson, Zepeda said his high output would be the difference.
"My style will definitely be implemented," Zepeda said. "Shakur is a fighter that's always moving, but my punch volume will put pressure on him, which will be the key to success on Saturday."
Stevenson, who enters the final fight on his deal with promoter Eddie Hearn, is in the midst of a multiple-bout agreement with Alalshikh, the powerful Saudi Arabian adviser. Should he handle business against Zepeda, the opportunities ahead could be very lucrative for him, including the possibility of a unification bout against superstar Gervonta "Tank" Davis.
"I know that I'm right there and on the verge of reaching superstardom," Stevenson said. "Come fight night, I'm going in there and putting on a superstar performance. I just need to be myself."
Alalshikh did a solid job of loading up this card with interesting matchups. The actual main event will see a pair of rising super middleweights who could earn a shot at gold with a win on Saturday in Edgar Berlanga and Hamzah Sheeraz. Berlanga got his opportunity against Canelo Alvarez last September where he struggled to land much of anything significant. But an impressive showing against a top prospect like Sheeraz, who is unbeaten at 21-0-1, could catapult him back to a title fight. Sheeraz is coming off a split draw against Carlos Adames for the WBC middleweight title in February as he pursues his first world title.
"For Oscar [De La Hoya] to say we shouldn't be the main event, New York City is my city," Berlanga said at the final press conference. "I was born and raised here and I'm a star here. It's only right.
"You know I'm a king in the first round. I'm going to touch his jaw. He's a giraffe"
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