Oscar De La Hoya wishes Shakur Stevenson a speedy recovery from his recent hand surgery, and he wants him to be 100% when Golden Boy fighter, William Zepeda, challenges him for his WBC lightweight title in the first quarter of 2025.
Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is going to have a tough time trying to handle the high output from Zepeda, who threw 1,244 punches in his 12-round fight against Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz on October 29th, 2022. If Shakur’s brittle hands don’t hold up, he’s not going to last long against Zepeda.
Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) has to take care of his fight first against Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) on Latino Night on November 16th at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Those two will be fighting a 10-rounder on the undercard of Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez vs. Chris Billiam-Smith. The event will be shown live on DAZN.
“William Zepeda is relentless. He’s again going to throw 1000 punches a fight. So every single fight on the card can be a main event,” said Oscar De La Hoya to DAZN about the William Zepeda vs. Tevin Farmer fight on November 16th in Riyadh.
Farmer, 34, will have a hard time trying to keep Zepeda off of him because he’s not a good enough mover to avoid his pressure in their 10-round fight. The former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer wanted a 10-rounder instead of a 12-round fight, but it probably won’t matter. Zepeda is going to get him out of there.
“If William Zepeda gets through this fight against Tevin Farmer, what are we certain to get a Shakur Stevenson fight in the first quarter of next year,” said commentator Chris Mannix.
“Sure, it all depends on logistics. What I mean by that is we want the fight. Zepeda wants the fight. It all depends on details. That’s all it is,” said De La Hoya. “I strongly feel Shakur is a tremendous fighter and a beautiful boxer.
“Look, you’re as good as your last fight, and I hope his hand gets better. I wish him all the best recovery and all that because I want him 100% when he faces William Zepeda.”
If Shakur doesn’t make it through training camp, the fight with Zepeda will be canceled, and it could take ages before he’s healed up and ready to continue fighting.
