Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed today that the reports of WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson leaving his company are fake news, and that’s still with them for his upcoming July 12th defense against William Zepeda in New York.

Hearn states that he’s not sure what Stevenson’s plans will be after the Zepeda fight, but he hopes he’ll stay with him. Whether he does or not will come down to how he performs against the unbeaten Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs), and if Hearn assures him that he’ll deliver the fight against Gervonta Davis.

Hearn Sets the Record Straight

To get the Tank fight that Shakur craves, it’s going to require that Turki Alalshikh lures the Baltimore native with a big enough offer to motivate him to take the fight.

Shakur, 27, has been chasing the Tank fight since he moved up in weight, and some believe that the only reason he moved up to 135. The payday that Shakur will get for fighting Davis will be huge, and it wouldn’t matter if he loses. He’ll make a lot more money fighting Gervonta than he would if he’d stayed at 130, fighting less popular opposition.

“You read Twitter. We have a two-fight deal with Shakur Stevenson and Turki Alalshikh. I was with Turki Alalshikh earlier for a couple of hours. That’s it,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV about Shakur Stevenson splitting with him after one fight of their two-fight deal.

“So, after the Zepeda fight, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Hopefully, we have the rest of his career with us, but I can’t say that categorically. So, yeah, I agreed to a two-fight deal with Shakur Stevenson, Turki Alalshikh, and that’s it. July 12th, we roll on in against Zepeda, and we’ll see what happens after that. Yes,” said Hearn on the reports of Stevenson leaving.

Hand Concerns

Shakur’s brittle hands could betray him against Zepeda, falling apart, and taking a bad beating from the volume puncher. Stevenson had a lot of problems with his fragile hands in his last fight against the electrician that Hearn recruited as his replacement opponent on the February 22nd card. He looked in that fight against the light-hitting fringe contender Padley.