Shakur Stevenson on William Zepeda fight: 'I’m coming in to whoop his a—'

During the buildup to Saturday's WBC lightweight title clash against William Zepeda on DAZN PPV, champion  Shakur Stevenson  has been defending himself from the critics. Heading into the fight, people have said that Stevenson's a runner, he's boring, not willing to engage when the tough gets going. 

One narrative making the rounds is that Zepeda, with his non-stop motor, will force Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) to finally bite down on his mouthpiece and be forced to put himself into the fire. At Thursday's press conference , Stevenson came out on the offensive and told the world what he plans on doing to Zepeda, that it will be him putting up the fireworks.

“I’m here. I’ve been calling this dude out for three years," Stevenson exclaimed. "I hear Oscar (De La Hoya, Zepeda's promoter) say that they have been trying to get this fight for three years. But they’re lying. They had the opportunity to fight me before. They turned it down. It was on Oscar. Come Saturday night, I’m coming in to beat his —. He’s gonna come be tough and strong. But I’m coming to whoop his a—. I stand by that. I’m f—ing him up.”

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Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) is currently the interim WBC lightweight champion. He's coming off two highly competitive bouts against Tevin Farmer. Stevenson isn't buying what everyone is selling when it comes to Zepeda. If he's as good as he's being advertised by the boxing public, then Stevenson is ready to see it when they step through the ropes in the Ring III co-feature. 

“These guys are acting like he’s a threat," Stevenson said. "This big monster. He’s ranked number one by these sanctioning bodies. If he’s skilled, I want to see it come Saturday. That’s what I want to see."

Watch the Ring III live from New York exclusively on DAZN PPV, Saturday, July 12. Buy the PPV now here .