WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will be defending his strap against unbeaten interim champion William Zepeda on July 12th in New York City. This will be a Ring Magazine card.

Shakur’s Apology Explained

It now makes sense why Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) made a public apology to Turki Alalshikh on Wednesday night on X. He needed to smooth things over because this will be his card on July 12th.

Ring Magazine reports that the date for Shakur-Zepeda will be on July 12th, and the location of the fight will be in New York City.

The former three-division world champion Shakur, 27, has been pushing real hard for the Zepeda fight for well over a year, viewing it as one that will pay well and lead to him getting the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis fight.

If Turki is bankrolling the Zepeda card, it will pay well. However, it still remains to be seen if Shakur will win, and if Gervonta will agree to fight him. You can’t blame Tank for being less than excited about fighting Stevenson after the way he ran from Edwin De Los Santos for 12 rounds two years ago in 2023. The Money may change Davis’s view about fighting Shakur if he’s victorious against Zepeda.

Zepeda’s Upset Potential

It’s interesting how confident Shakur is of beating Zepeda. He seems to think he has no chance of losing, but he had the same view about himself going into the finals of the 2016 Olympics against Robeisy Ramirez.

He got chased around the ring by him and wound up losing. Zepeda has more offensive ability than Robeisy, but not nearly the same speed. If he can cut off the ring on Shakur and force him to fight, he’s got a chance of beating him.

Shakur doesn’t possess the same firepower as Zepeda. We saw that in his last fight against Josh Padley when he looked weak standing in the pocket.

CHECKMATE♟️ https://t.co/M1txOXSrDO

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) April 18, 2025