William Zepeda fires back at Shakur Stevenson's 'Tom & Jerry' warning

William Zepeda peppers punches while changing levels in a shadowboxing session during The Ring Magazine III open workouts at Hard Rock Times Square on Wednesday.

Moments after stepping out of the ring, he is changing levels of a different kind to field ongoing questions about the styles he and WBC lightweight world champion Shakur Stevenson will present in their fight at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Corona, Queens, New York, and live on DAZN PPV, on Saturday night.

Zepeda caught wind of Tuesday’s chatter of Stevenson vowing to put “belt to mother—ing a—” against him this weekend, but the WBC interim lightweight titleholder is not sold.

Instead, Zepeda fully expects Stevenson’s brand of hit and don’t get hit boxing to be on display. That is despite the shrinking ring that His Excellency Turki Alalshikh is teasing or his condemnation of a Tom & Jerry-styled fight.

“We don’t know … we are not confident about what Turki says he’s going to do with the ring and stuff,” Zepeda began telling DAZN News in Spanish as told through an interpreter. “All we know is Shakur is going to come out and do what has characterized him throughout his entire career.

“And maybe he is going to chase me with the belt.”

An overwhelming focus on fighters’ styles began to take shape last month when Alalshikh took to his X social media account and said: “From this point on, I don’t want to see any more Tom [&] Jerry-type boxing matches where one fighter is running around the ring and the other is chasing him. We can no longer support these kind of fights with Riyadh Season and The Ring.”

Though His Excellency did not specify Stevenson, the Newark product, alongside Devin Haney and William Scull, have all recently fought on Alalshikh cards.

But asked again about the comments again Tuesday, Stevenson was not shy about responding emphatically.

“If you call me Jerry, then I’m whooping Tom’s a—,” Stevenson told the media in reaction to the challenge he’s likely to get from a rugged Zepeda. “That’s what I’m coming here for so Tom & Jerry, Jerry is whooping Tom’s a— for sure.”

Speaking to a pool of reporters Wednesday, Stevenson maintained that he is going to be himself in the ring this weekend, hinting more toward a supreme sweet science showing than brawl — though he acknowledged a pressuring Zepeda might force a fight.

“I’m going to be who I am,” Stevenson said. “People try to change me. That’s just not going to work.

“But William Zepeda is going to make me fight a lot more than a lot of other people so I will have to fight.”

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