Why Edwin De Los Santos Thinks Shakur Wins Easy (and Why He Might Be Wrong)

Edwin De Los Santos predicts tonight will be an “easy” victory for Shakur Stevenson in his defense of his WBC lightweight title against William Zepeda in Queens, New York. De Los Santos says Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) does well against fighters who come forward and throw a lot of punches.

De Los Santos Needed Mind Transplant

Edwin lost to Shakur by a close 12-round decision in 2023 in a fight that was a classic example of a Tom and Jerry-type contest. Stevenson ran all night, and the crowd at the T-Mobile Arena booed from the third round until Shakur left the ring after winning an ugly decision.

Edwin had fought a dumb fight, waiting for openings rather than pressing the attack the way Zepeda does in his fights. He appeared to be afraid of being countered by Shakur and being made to look bad in front of the fans.

His attitude was all wrong. If he had Zepeda’s mind in his body, he’d have ignored the shots that Stevenson hit him with and buried him with volume. With De Los Santos’ power and hand speed, he’d have knocked out Shakur. A mind transplant is what he needed. Switch Zepeda’s head onto Edwin’s body that night, and he would have won.

Shakur’s “Easy Fight” Claims

“This is going to be an easy fight for Shakur Stevenson. We’re really going to see some quality boxing here tonight,” said Edwin De Los Santos to Fighthype, predicting a victory for Shakur over William Zepeda.

Tonight is going to be a very difficult fight for Shakur. It’s understandable why De Los Santos would say it’s going to be an “easy” one because he lost to Stevenson in 2023. It makes him look better if he says it’ll be a walk in the park for his former conqueror over Zepeda.

What he should be saying is that there’s a very good chance that Zepeda wins because he fights the way that you have to against a runner that uses the amateur point-scoring method of winning fights.

Stevenson’s Amateur Point-Scoring

Shakur is still using the same point-scoring method that he had in the amateurs. The reason he’s been able to get away with it is that he’s not fought any pressure fighters at 135. When he fought at 126 and 130, he had the size advantage over his opposition. Stevenson was bigger than the only two good fighters he fought in those weight classes, Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring.

At 135, Shakur has fought no pressure fighters. Indeed, when he had the opportunity to fight his first, Jadier Herrera, he chose a fighter with a day job and no training camp, Josh Padley, as his opponent in his last fight.

“Against me, he had to box and move because I was waiting for opportunities and openings,” said De Los Santos about his fight with Shakur in 2023. “A guy like Zepeda, who comes forward and throws a lot of punches, and that’s when Shakur Stevenson shows who he is.”

De Los Santos fought a dumb fight against Shakur, “waiting” forever to land an occasional shot rather than using his superior power and hand speed to push the attack on him. He lost to Shakur because of his lack of aggression, opting instead to wait and not attack all out.

Ramirez Blueprint for Shakur

If Edwin De Los had watched Stevenson’s loss to Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez in the 2016 Olympics, he’d have known that he had to attack him all out. He didn’t learn from following the blueprint. You can blame that on De Los Santos and his trainer because it would have only taken a second to watch Stevenson’s fight against Robeisy on YouTube to figure out how to fight him. That’s laziness and poor planning. 

“The key is for him [Stevenson] to box, more around, and he’s also a great counter-puncher,” said De Los Santos, speaking the obvious about what Shakur must do tonight to defeat Zepeda.

Of course, Stevenson is going to box and move all night against Zepeda. What does De Los Santos expect him to do? That’s all Shakur does – box and move, using his amateur point-scoring style to win by decision. It’s so boring and doesn’t fit the pro game.