Shakur Stevenson and Oscar De La Hoya trade words after WBC champion is ordered to face William Zepeda nextÂ
Shakur Stevenson has been ordered by the World Boxing Council (WBC) to defend his lightweight world title against William Zepeda next. Both fighters are immensely promising talents in the sport, and their bout provides an exciting clash for fans.
Both fighters are currently undefeated, with Stevenson holding a 22-0 professional record and his potential next opponent a 31-0.
Former world champion turned boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya recently shared his thoughts on the potential WBC lightweight title fight. 'Golden Boy' claimed that Zepeda was the mandatory challenger for all major world titles and could decide who he wanted to fight next.
This led Stevenson to claim that Zepeda would avoid him should the pair of pugilists not fight next. TalkSPORT boxing editor Michael Benson recently took to X to share the WBC's order, writing this:
"The WBC have now officially ordered Shakur Stevenson to defend his WBC lightweight world title vs. William Zepeda next."
In another post, he wrote:
Shakur Stevenson vs. William Zepeda will go to purse bids on Aug. 20th with a 70/30 split in Shakur's favour if no deal is agreed and neither fighter pulls out of the ordered fight."
See the posts below:
The WBC lightweight champion fired back at De La Hoya's comments about Zepeda, writing this:
"Nobody wanna talk about how these dudes [are] ducking in broad daylight."
Shakur Stevenson responds to "mad" Oscar De La Hoya critique
Shakur Stevenson is arguably the hottest free agent in boxing right now, but with his talent widely recognized, his free agency status is bound to change soon.
It was reported that several promoters, including Oscar De La Hoya and Eddie Hearn, were interested in the WBC lightweight champion.
While the undefeated world champion is yet to confirm who he will sign with, he has confirmed that he won't be re-signed with Top Rank, his original promoters, nor will he be signing with De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.
De La Hoya recently stated that he "cannot promote" Stevenson, saying this:
"Great fighter, but not for me. I believe that when somebody says they're not fighting for the public, I cannot promote them."
The 27-year-old responded with this:
"He's mad because he found out I'm not signing with him. It's okay, you'll get over it."
See Shakur Stevenson's response to De La Hoya below: