Shakur Stevenson is stipulated to defend his WBC lightweight title against William Zepeda days after holding talks with Golden Boy.
The undefeated Newark native is a free agent after leaving Top Rank following his successful title defense against Artem Harutyunyan at the Prudential Center.
Rumblings of a low crowd to accompany Stevenson’s second below-par performance haven’t deterred potential promoters. Since then, Golden Boy Chairman Oscar De La Hoya has informed World Boxing News that he wants Stevenson to contact him. He told WBN, “Shakur, give me a call!”
Stevenson responded, “Oscar just put himself in the mix, too. Gone be an interesting few weeks. Big fights by any means necessary.”
It didn’t take long for the World Boxing Council to get involved with a helping nudge. WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman announced, “The WBC has ordered the mandatory title defense of our lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson vs William Zepeda. I’m very much looking forward to this great match.”
De La Hoya updated on a meeting staged with Stevenson but added a stipulation that the pound-for-pound star must sign with his company to make the fight possible.
“Had a great meeting with Shakur Stevenson representatives,” said De La Hoya. “William Zepeda will only fight him if Shakur is signed to Golden Boy,” he added.
“What [are] we doing,” Stevenson asked Zepeda via social media before De La Hoya threw another spanner in the mix.
“Check this out: William Zepeda is so bad that he has four sanctioning bodies to choose from. Nobody will tell him who he must fight next,” said the former world champion.
At present, a lot hinges on where Stevenson winds up next. Even if he signs with Golden Boy, a deal would potentially be worked out to delay the clash a bit longer to allow it to marinate.
As WBN reported, Stevenson can choose from any promoter in the world for his next move. However, he cannot afford another substandard performance once he settles on a new deal.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
