Shakur Stevenson vs William Zepeda Preview July 12th, 2025
Unbeaten WBC Lightweight Champion and former WBO and WBC Jr. Lightweight Champion Shakur Stevenson defends the title in New York City against undefeated William Zepeda of Mexico this Saturday, July 12th. The 12-round battle can be seen on DAZN pay-per-view in most nations. Stevenson last fought in February when he stopped the unheralded Josh Padley in the ninth round while Zepeda last saw action in March when he beat Tevin Farmer by a 12-round majority decision in a rematch for the interim WBC Title. Zepeda also beat Farmer via split decision four months earlier. Stevenson beat Edwin De Los Santos by unanimous decision in a truly awful fight in November, 2023 to win the vacant belt.
Stevenson vs Zepeda Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- William Zepeda +713
- Shakur Stevenson -1500
My Pick
The 28-year-old Stevenson of Newark is a southpaw enters the ring with a perfect mark of 23-0 with 11 Ko’s. He enjoyed an excellent amateur career as he won a USA Junior National Championship and World Junior Championship in 2013. The next year he captured the USA Youth National, Youth Olympic Games and World Youth Championships. He won the USA Youth National Title in 2015 as well as the Olympic trials and qualifiers. He then fought at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and won the silver medal as a bantamweight.
Since turning pro in 2017 he’s boxed 166 rounds and has also captured the IBF Inter-Continental, WBC Continental Americas, and WBO NABO Featherweight Titles as well as the WBO Featherweight Crown. Stevenson stands 5-feet-8-inches tall and owns a 68-inch reach. Stevenson beat Robson Conceicao via a unanimous decision in September, 2022 but was stripped of his WBO and WBC Junior Lightweight Belts for missing weight. He had won the WBO Title in October, 2021 by stopping Jamel Herring in the 10th round and added the WBC version when he beat Oscar Valdez by unanimous decision in April, 2022.
He’s certainly not not known as a KO artist by any means though as he possesses average power with a current knockout ratio of 47.8 per cent and has gone the distance in six of his last nine fights. He displays fine boxing skills and speed and has plenty of long-term championship potential in multiple weight classes. Along with beating Shuichiro Yoshino, Robson Conceicao, Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring he also has wins over Joet Gonzalez, Alberto Guevara, Jeremia Nakathila, Christopher Diaz, Jesse Cris Rosales and Juan Tapia.
The 29-year-old Zepeda is also a southpaw who climbs into the ring with a perfect mark of 33-0 with 27 big Ko’s. He’s obviously made a name for himself due to his impressive power as he carries around a knockout ratio of 81.8 per cent but had to go the distance in both fights against Farmer and was dropped in the fourth round of their first battle. Zepeda’s boxed 160 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015 following his amateur career which saw him fight in the World Series of Boxing and has fought past six rounds just four times as a pro.
Those three contests came in his last eight outings against former world champions Rene Alvarado, Joseph Diaz and of course, the two contests with Farmer. He stepped up in class in those four fights and beat Diaz by a wide 12-round unanimous decision and Alvarado by a 10-round unanimous nod. His biggest wins before those came against the likes of Jose Fierros, Jesus Zazueta, Jose Rosales and Roberto Ramirez.
Since turning pro, Zepeda has also won the vacant WBA Continental Americas Lightweight Title in July, 2021 when he stopped Hector Tanajara after six rounds and defended it once by halting John Vincent Moralde in four rounds four months later. He’s also captured the vacant WBF Mexican Lightweight Title and the vacant WBC Fecarbox Silver Lightweight CrownZepeda stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69.5-inch reach which gives him an inch edge in height over Stevenson as well as 1.5-inches in reach.
Prediction…
Stevenson’s game plan is generally to try and not get hit while using his master boxing skills and footwork to outbox his opponents and that usually results in a boring fight for the fans. However he did show a bit more aggression against Valdez, Herring and Yoshino but the contest against Edwin De Los Santos was one of the worst in the history of the sport. In addition, Padley was a late replacement in his last fight as Stevenson was originally scheduled to meet Floyd Schofield. Padley had nothing to lose and let his hands go, forcing Stevenson to trow some leather back. Zepeda will also force Stevenson to fight as the Mexican is a supreme volume puncher and should push the champion to the limit. There’s not much point trying to outbox Stevenson due to his skills so Zepeda needs to let his hands go at every opportunity. If he does, I believe he can lift the belt from him.
Play Zepeda +713 @ BetOnline.ag
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Shakur Stevenson betting • William Zepeda betting • William Zepeda Segura betting