Shakur Stevenson has been offered the chance to reclaim his old title in a rematch with one of the sport’s most relentless pressure fighters.
The 29-year-old is coming off arguably a career-best performance against Teofimo Lopez, who he dethroned with a wide points victory in January.
As a result, the skilful southpaw became a four-weight world champion by claiming the WBO 140lb title, but has expressed an openness to drop back down to 135lbs.
Either way, Stevenson is expecting to return to action later this year after inking a promotional deal with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing.
The only issue, it seems, is that many of his most desirable opponents – including Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis and Gary Antuanne Russell – are either aligned to a different promoter or broadcaster, inactive or set to secure a different opportunity altogether.
There could, however, be a chance for Stevenson to reclaim his WBC lightweight title after being stripped of the belt following his victory over Lopez.
This would arrive in the form of a rematch with William Zepeda, who claimed the vacant strap with a unanimous decision victory over Lamont Roach last weekend.
Stevenson has claimed that Zepeda was his toughest fight to date and the best chance of somebody coming close to beating him.
“It ain’t going to happen [somebody having a close fight against me]. The most y’all ever going to get is Zepeda – that was y’all’s best hope and chance at getting resistance.
“His style, styles make fights. The style that would give me the most resistance would be the guy who throws a million punches a round, and doesn’t stop punching.”
Speaking with Fight Hub TV, the Mexican insisted that he would be happy to enter a second encounter with Stevenson at either lightweight or super-lightweight.
“Yes, I would very much like [a rematch with Stevenson at] 135 or 140[lbs].”
While Zepeda did show genuine signs of improvement against Roach, his convincing unanimous decision defeat to Stevenson, in July 2025, has meant that there is little appetite for a rematch.
