Teofimo Lopez says he \u201ccommends\u201d Shakur Stevenson for showing courage to face him at 140 in 2026. He states that Shakur (24-0, 11 KOs) is attempting to follow in the footsteps of his \u201cbig bro,\u201d Terence Crawford, by aspiring to take on bigger fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout Time\u201d Stevenson Fights a Real Threat<\/p>\n
WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo (22-1, 13 KOs) states that Stevenson lacks the hand speed, talent, and power to follow the blueprint of his mentor, Crawford.<\/p>\n
He labels the Newark, New Jersey native, Shakur, as \u201cslow\u201d and powerless. However, Lopez does respect the courage and ambition that Stevenson is showing by \u201cstepping up to the plate\u201d to face him in 2026. Lopez says it\u2019s \u201cAbout time\u201d that Shakur faces a talented opponent, as he\u2019s never fought anyone who posed a threat to him since turning professional in 2017, following his loss to Cuba\u2019s Robeisy Ramirez in the 2016 Olympics.<\/p>\n
The Apex Fights Shakur Should Have Taken<\/p>\n
In other words, Teofimo believes that Shakiur has been protected by his promoters, Top Rank and Matchroom, in the pro ranks. That\u2019s not just on them, though. Stevenson has the cache to have insisted that they match him against these apex predators if he were truly interested in following the blueprint of his \u2018Big bro\u2019 Crawford to rise to his higher powers:<\/p>\n
Andy Cruz
\nErnesto Mercado
\nAbdullah Mason
\nFloyd Schofield
\nRaymond Muratalla<\/p>\n
Lopez: Shakur Is \u201cSlow, Really Slow\u201d at 135<\/p>\n
\u201cI seen him at lightweight in his last fight against [William] Zepeda, and he\u2019s slow, really slow. There\u2019s nothing more to it than that,\u201d said Teofimo Lopez on commentator Brian Custer\u2019s<\/a> YouTube channel, talking about WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson\u2019s last fight against William Zepeda at 135 on July 12, 2025.<\/p>\n Many boxing fans have echoed Teofimo\u2019s observation about Shakur\u2019s lack of hand speed. They\u2019ve said the same thing about him. Stevenson lacks the blazing hand speed of talents like Andy Cruz and Floyd Schofield at 135.<\/p>\n Protected by Promoters, Not Tested by Predators<\/p>\n Stevenson has managed to get by with matchmaking, which has been the perfect cover for his lack of speed and power. Instead of Matchroom and Top Rank throwing Shakur in the sharks since turning pro, they\u2019ve kept him in the shallows against these minnows:<\/p>\n Josh Padley Teofimo Predicts a Humbling at 140<\/p>\n \u201cTerence Crawford, which he refers to as \u2018Big bro,\u2019 I think that\u2019s what\u2019s really keeping him for wanting to aim for bigger and better fights and for better opposition,\u201d said Teofimo about Shakur. \u201cI commend him for stepping up to the plate, and I think it\u2019s time for him to take his first loss. For me to whoop his a** to the point where he quits on his stool or I knock him out.\u201d<\/p>\n Teo is right. Shakur is finally showing some backbone after all these years, but it doesn\u2019t look good for him. His last fight against William Zepeda, earlier this year on July 12th, highlighted the flaws in his game. Stevenson lacks the hand speed and power to survive against fighters with killer power and speed.<\/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 – An Analyst’s Perspective<\/a> \u00bb Teofimo Lopez: I \u201ccommend\u201d Shakur Stevenson for stepping up \u2014 but he\u2019s \u201cslow,\u201d protected, and ripe for a first loss<\/p>\n Last Updated on 11\/02\/2025 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teofimo Lopez says he \u201ccommends\u201d Shakur Stevenson for showing courage to face him at 140 in 2026. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-240506","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\/240506","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=240506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nArtem Harutyunyan
\nShuichiro Yoshino
\nJeremia Nakathila
\nToka Kahn Clary<\/p>\n