Shakur Stevenson: From ‘The Best’ To ‘The Bag’? Fighter’s Zepeda Pullout Sparks Accusations Of Greed

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya revealed today that Shakur Stevenson has “pulled out of the William Zepeda fight.” Shakur posted the reason for the pullout on X, saying Turki had promised him a financial amount for the Zepeda fight but is now “going back on that.”

The Pullout

Shakur didn’t mention how much money Turki had planned on offering him for the Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) fight, but it looks like he’s changed his mind. Stevenson’s choosing not to go forward with the fight shows that he’s focused more on ‘the bag’ than on his legacy or increasing his popularity. What happened to Shakur wanting to show he’s the best? Now, he’s focusing on money, sounding a lot like Edgar Berlanga.

It would be interesting to know how much Turki was offering Stevenson in the past for the fight with Zepeda. If it’s the same amount he got for his last fight against the part-time boxer Josh Padley on February 22nd, that should be enough for him to go through with the match. Shakur was reportedly paid well to defend against Padley on the DAZN PPV card in Riyadh.

PPV Risk

If Stevenson was expecting to get $10 million for a title defense against Zepeda, he’s fooling himself. He’s NOT a PPV attraction, and he likely never will be.  Zepeda couldn’t help bring in the buys either because he’s turned in back-to-back lackluster performances against Tevin Farmer in his last two fights.

The Mexican slugger Zepeda arguably has lost fans from those two fights. For Turki to try and sell a Shakur vs. Zepeda fight as a headliner now on DAZN PPV would be a financial disaster. Even with a loaded undercard, that event would bomb if Shakur is in the headliner.

Stevenson has failed to increase his popularity since moving up to the lightweight division in 2023. That’s the main problem. He had fought some obscure Japanese fighter in his first match at 135, then he had that terrible performance against Edwin De Los Santos in which he was booed out of the T-Mobile Arena by the fans for running from him for 12 rounds. Stevenson followed that up with an equally dull fight against Artem Harutyunyan in his final fight with Top Rank.

Instead of fighting the dangerous puncher, Jadier Herrera, on the February 22nd card, Shakur chose the light-hitting electrician Josh Padley. It’s pretty obvious that with the way that Stevenson is being matched, he’s being kept away from hard-hitting opposition to ensure he doesn’t look bad again.

When you factor in all that, why would Turki want to pay Shakur what he was hoping to get for a fight against Zepeda? If anything, Turki should wash his hands of Shakur and treat him like he’s invisible. He needs to be focusing on exciting fighters for his cards. Stevenson doesn’t meet that criteria.

The Promise Broken

😂😂😂😂 is that what they told you?? Turki promised me a number and now he going way back on that number that he promised me and sending his Towel boys to run me the info instead telling me straight up what he tryna do.. Ion bow down to nobody Mr De la Hoya now let’s negotiate! https://t.co/S33oy0Cefy

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) April 5, 2025