Shakur Stevenson beat Joet Gonzalez for the WBO world featherweight title Saturday night at the RSCVA convention center. Shakur Stevenson 2 Oct 26

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Shakur Stevenson Next Fight – WBC Lightweight Champion to defend his title against William Zepeda

Learn all about Shakur Stevenson’s next WBC Lightweight title defense fight against William Zepeda.

Shakur Stevenson beat Joet Gonzalez for the WBO world featherweight title Saturday night at the RSCVA convention center. Shakur Stevenson 2 Oct 26

Shakur Stevenson has been enjoying his reign as the WBC Lightweight Champion since he defeated Edwin De Los Santos on August 26, 2023. Originally hailing from Newark, New Jersey, United States, he has also competed in the Featherweight and Super Featherweight divisions in boxing.

Shakur Stevenson is notable for being both the WBO Featherweight and WBO Super Featherweight titles during his tenure in these divisions. More recently, he made successful WBO Lightweight title defenses against opponents like Artem Harutyunyan and Josh Padley. He is all set to dened the title against his third opponent since winning it. However, who has challenged him for the title. Let’s find out the details.

Shakur Stevenson set to defend his WBC title against William Zepeda

Shakur Stevenson is all set to defend his WBC Lightweight title against William Zepeda. Both of these boxers are on a win streak presently. Shakur Stevenson, the WBC Lightweight Champion, has won his last two bouts. William Zepeda is also on a winning streak as the Interim WBC Lightweight Champion. Notably, Stevenson had initially wanted to fight Zepeda in early 2025.

CHECKMATE♟️ https://t.co/M1txOXSrDO
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) April 18, 2025

The teams of Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda resumed talks for their potential fight. However, Oscar De La Hoya, the promoter of William Zepeda, accused Stevenson of pulling out without any reason. He retaliated by stating that he was being offered less money by Turki Al-Sheikh, despite promising him more as per Marca. However, he was still open to negotiations.

Breaking: Shakur Stevenson has confirmed he’s fully locked in to face William Zepeda next. However, uncertainty looms over whether the fight will take place under Turki Alalshikh, as Stevenson says he promised a offer that Turki may of reneged on 😳 Zepeda has ducked RockStarKur… pic.twitter.com/BOylQzMlyf
— 2ToneDaSupastar (@2ToneDaSupastar) April 5, 2025

This eventually led to WBC officially ordering Stevenson to defend his title against Zepeda on April 8, 2025 as per KO on Si.

The WBC has officially ordered Shakur Stevenson to defend his lightweight world title against mandatory challenger William Zepeda. The two sides have until May 6th to negotiate a deal before the bout heads to a purse bid. pic.twitter.com/4Fw3TnWr1s
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) April 8, 2025

Notably, Mike Coppinger of The Ring has revealed that Stevenson’s representative requested a 70-30 split of the winning bid. However, Zepeda’s representative wanted to lower it to 55-45 as per KO on Si. Moreover, WBC offered them until May 6, 2025 to make a deal. After that, their bout will head to a purse bid. Whatever, the result of the deal, the bout between Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda has been made official. Since then, Stevenson has also apologized to Turki Alalsikh.

Excited about my next fight it was a misunderstanding between Turki and the team. My apologies on my part for over reacting 🦾 Let’s work @Turki_alalshikh
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) April 17, 2025

Unfortunately, Stevenson also had to face backlash from his fans for him agreeing to the terms with Turki Alalsikh as per Marca.

Stevenson vs. Zepeda Fight Date and Location

Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda will be clashing for the WBC Lightweight title on July 12, 2025 in New York as per The Ring. This event from The Ring magazine will also lead to the starting of a new TV series called “Inside The Ring”.

What is Shakur Stevenson’s Boxing Record?

Shakur Stevenson, the WBC Lightweight Champion has reached a boxing record of 23-0-0. Notably, he is undefeated with 23 wins and no losses and ties so far. He won 11 bouts through KO as per BoxRec. He won the remaining 12 bouts through decisions. This completes his 23 bout wins so far.

When Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda finally meet, both of them will be eager to keep their winning streak going. The final winner of the bout can only be found out on July 12, 2025.

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Shakur Stevenson

William Zepeda

Arka Mukherjee

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mma

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I’m a sports content writer focusing on MMA, WWE and MLB writer at The Playoffs. I have a Master’s degree in Media Science (M.Sc) from my college The Heritage Academy. I got into the sports industry through my previous company where I worked from 2023 to March 2025. I’m a fan of combat sports like pro wrestling and MMA. My favorite part about working at The Playoffs is speculating what can be happening in WWE, especially face-heel turns and results of matches.