{"id":220349,"date":"2025-10-23T13:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/220349\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:27:12","slug":"shakur-stevensons-skill-beats-teofimo-lopezs-size","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/220349\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakur Stevenson\u2019s Skill Beats Teofimo Lopez\u2019s Size"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie Hearn says he doesn\u2019t believe Shakur Stevenson\u2019s size disadvantage against Teofimo Lopez will prevent him from defeating him in their possible fight in January 2026.<\/p>\n

Hearn believes that Shakur\u2019s skills will allow him to deal with WBO light welterweight champion Lopez\u2019s size.<\/p>\n

Shakur Pushes Back<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were talking about the size of Teofimo Lopez. He\u2019s not a massive 140, but he\u2019s still a decent-sized 140,\u201d said promoter Eddie Hearn to Brian Custer\u2019s channel<\/a>. \u201cI said to Shakur [Stevenson] \u2018You\u2019ll be the smaller guy in that fight.\u2019 \u2018No, I won\u2019t.\u2019 I said, \u2018You will be.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Shakur might not be the smaller guy, but he\u2019ll be giving away a lot in the power department. That counts for the same thing as him giving away size. Lopez, 5\u20199\u2033, has a one-inch height advantage over the 5\u20198\u2033 Shakur, and a half-inch reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll necessarily affect anything. I think you\u2019ll win the fight. That\u2019s when it starts to be a real challenge when you are fighting a bigger guy,\u201d said Hearn about his conversation with Shakur Stevenson being the smaller fighter at 140.<\/p>\n

Giving away size to Teofimo will very likely affect Shakur, as he\u2019s used to being the bigger fighter with the longer reach. With him fighting Lopez, Shakur will be dealing with a guy his size, but with a lot more power. So, he can\u2019t get away with fighting with his back against the ropes for 12 rounds like he did in his last fight against William Zepeda on May 2, 2025.<\/p>\n

Teo Built for This Division<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an interesting style match-up. I don\u2019t know how it will gel, the two styles. They\u2019re both incredibly skillful. Teo is really tricky at times, and sometimes a bit weird with the way he fights. But he\u2019s an incredible talent,\u201d said Hearn.<\/p>\n

Even if Teofimo and Shakur are roughly the same size, Teo is the much bigger puncher and more suited to the 140-lb division. Stevenson is forced to fight at 135, as he doesn\u2019t possess enough power to campaign at light welterweight. Staying at 140 would mean that Shakur would have to compete with these wolves:<\/p>\n

Ernesto Mercado
Keyshawn Davis
Gary Antuanne Russell
Isaac Cruz
Subriel Matias
Alberto Puello
Kevin Brown
Jamaine Ortiz
Kenneth Sims
Richardson Hitchins<\/p>\n

Stevenson might be able to beat some of those fighters, but it\u2019s possible that over half would beat him. Teofimo is among them in terms of power and the difficulty that he\u2019ll bring to Shakur.<\/p>\n

Tom Galm has covered the global boxing scene since 2014, specializing in heavyweight analysis, business trends, and fighter psychology.<\/p>\n

Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb Eddie Hearn Says Shakur Stevenson\u2019s Skill Will Neutralize Teofimo Lopez\u2019s Size Edge in Potential January 2026 Showdown<\/p>\n

Last Updated on 10\/23\/2025 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn says he doesn\u2019t believe Shakur Stevenson\u2019s size disadvantage against Teofimo Lopez will prevent him from defeating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-220349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}