Boxing

Shakur Stevenson Puts On Masterclass, Beats William Zepeda By UD To Retain WBC Lightweight Title

Shakur Stevenson reminds people why he is one of the most technical boxers in the world, beating William Zepeda by unanimous decision.
Johan Alyas Blanco|
IMAGO / Torsten Helmke

Shakur Stevenson silenced all the critics, putting on a dominant and masterclass performance Saturday night.

The New Jersey native steamrolled past William Zepeda by unanimous decision to retain the WBC lightweight title. Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs) makes the third defense of his belt and solidifies himself as arguably the top lightweight in the world.

The bout took place at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

It was a rare southpaw vs. southpaw matchup, with the story of the fighting being Stevenson's skillset against Zepeda's work rate.

The start of the fight was what people expected, with Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) pressing forward and pushing Stevenson to the ropes. Zepeda was throwing to the body early to try to slow down the world-class movement of Stevenson. The champion surprisingly stayed inside the pocket, managing distance and firing back inside the pocket.

As the fight progressed early on, "Camaron" was having some success, throwing at a high volume and just smothering Stevenson to the point where he couldn't be very active. The challenger even caught Stevenson with a stiff jab, nearly scoring a knockdown.

While the challenger had some success in the beginning, Stevenson proved why he's one of the trickiest puzzles to solve as he adjusted well and started to pull away from the fight.

From the fifth round on, Stevenson began counterpunching beautifully, catching Zepeda at will and even showcasing some different punch angles. The champions was landing the cleaner punches and shockingly, looked like he was throwing the harder shots.

And despite Zepeda still pushing the pace and throwing at a high volume, the activity started to become sloppy and eventually began smothering his own work. Stevenson would take advantage, mixing his footwork with some multi-punch combinations that would stun Zepeda on multiple occasions.

While Zepeda's output was impressive, Stevenson landed more than half his power punches and his display of skills really shined through in the second half of the fight. The mind on him to stay composed in the line of danger early is impressive as he was able to weather a three-round storm to then meticulously implement his game plan.

It was by far Stevenson's most impressive performance since moving to 135 lbs and 2025 has seen a return to form for the WBC champion. And after this win, it wouldn't be surprising if Stevenson was the Ring Magazine's No. 1 ranked lightweight.

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Johan Alyas Blanco
JOHAN ALYAS BLANCO

Johan Alyas Blanco is a writer for KO On SI. Before joining in March 2025, he worked as a News Producer in Tallahassee and Orlando. He also works for several fight promotions in boxing and MMA, working on social media content. When he’s not writing, Alyas covers boxing on his own YouTube channel, The Split Decision. Blanco has a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from UCF, with a minor in sports business management. Alyas has interviewed several big names in combat sports, including Jorge Masvidal, Edgar Berlanga and Brian Norman Jr. His goal is to bring boxing back to prominence.

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