Shakur Stevenson vs William Zepeda ‘verbally agreed’ for title fight

Shakur Stevenson has reportedly agreed to a fight with William Zepeda.

Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda have reportedly verbally agreed to a WBC lightweight title fight, according to a report from Lance Pugmire.

Pugmire also reports that the most likely date for the fight as of now would be Oct. 12 in Riyadh, where it would be on the undercard of the highly-anticipated Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol undisputed 175 lb title fight.

Stevenson was ordered by the WBC to defend his 135 lb title against Zepeda recently, but tried instead to make a big fight with Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who holds the WBA lightweight title and is a much bigger box office star than Zepeda.

Apparently giving up on that, Stevenson (22-0, 10 KO) is instead looking toward the mandatory with Zepeda (31-0, 27 KO), who is a legitimate contender and whose action style could perk up some people who have grown weary of watching Shakur in dull, easy fights, with particular critical scorn directed to his last two wins over Edwin De Los Santos and Artem Harutyunyan.

Stevenson recently became a promotional free agent with his Top Rank contract expiring. Zepeda is promoted by Golden Boy, whose Oscar De La Hoya recently said he wasn’t that interested in doing this fight, but those feelings can change, and also people in boxing say lots of things.

Can Zepeda be the sort of test, or at least the sort of style matchup, that brings the best out of Stevenson? Will Stevenson’s almost bored performances in recent outings catch up to him against someone who brings a lot of heat?