Shakur Stevenson defends WBC lightweight world title with this boxing masterclass against William Zepeda

Any references of Tom & Jerry-type fighting attached to Shakur Stevenson’s name should rest in eternal peace.

Stevenson stood his ground and boxed masterfully with clean pot shots and crisp counters to dominate William Zepeda in a unanimous decision sweet science clinic Saturday night. The victory at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York, and live on DAZN PPV, gave Stevenson his third straight defense of his WBC lightweight world championship.

Judges scored it 118-110, 118-110, 119-110 all in favor of Stevenson who improved to 24-0 (11 KOs), while handing Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) his first loss.

Afterwards, Stevenson put his future opponents on notice by warning:

When the Newark, New Jersey product was not picking his spots and letting his hands fly to surgically carve Zepeda up, he was patiently waiting in the shell using precise timing to pounce with pointed counterpunching.

Although Zepeda put Stevenson through some turbulence during the third round by trapping him in the corner and catching him with a right that knocked the champ slightly off balance, Stevenson more than recovered by re-establishing his real estate and being the consummate ring general he is. Zepeda valiantly tried to keep fighting forward, though he was met with more pointed punches fired back at him from the sweet scientist Stevenson.

A dominant Stevenson would not reveal in the moment who he would like to clash with next, only stating that he will go back to the drawing board to plot his next move.

However, earlier in the week Stevenson did share with DAZN News that he would more than welcome a mega bout with WBO super lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez in the near future.