{"id":351089,"date":"2026-01-04T04:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T04:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/351089\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T04:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T04:14:07","slug":"world-champion-who-sparred-shakur-stevenson-predicts-upset-in-teofimo-lopez-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/351089\/","title":{"rendered":"World champion who sparred Shakur Stevenson predicts upset in Teofimo Lopez fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WBC world super-featherweight champion O\u2019Shaquie Foster, who has previously sparred Shakur Stevenson, has offered his assessment of the American\u2019s upcoming showdown with Teofimo Lopez.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.co.uk\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/47166562\/teofimo-lopez-shakur-stevenson-set-140-pound-showdown-jan-31\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Their mouth-watering super-lightweight encounter will take place on January 31 at Madison Square Garden, New York<\/a>, with Stevenson looking to become a four-division world champion.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/shakur-stevenson-beats-william-zepeda-by-unanimous-decision\/#:~:text=Shakur%20Stevenson%20beats%20William%20Zepeda%20by%20unanimous%20decision%20%7C%20Boxing%20News\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The 28-year-old was last seen outpointing William Zepeda<\/a>, his then-mandatory challenger, with a comprehensive performance to retain his WBC lightweight title in July.<\/p>\n<p>In that particular contest, Stevenson was able to demonstrate an impressive blend of slick movement and educated inside fighting, often electing to trade with his busy opponent in the pocket.<\/p>\n<p>In doing so, the crafty southpaw formulated an effective gameplan against a relentless pressure fighter \u2013 someone known for his immense output \u2013 but must now find a way to negate the sheer athleticism of Lopez.<\/p>\n<p>While not being the most consistent of world champions in recent years, Lopez is nonetheless capable of producing a dynamic and explosive performance when the occasion demands it.<\/p>\n<p>Against Vasyl Lomachenko, for instance, \u2018The Takeover\u2019 was able to swiftly gain his opponent\u2019s respect, landing a series of thudding right hands, and would often throw from unorthodox angles to disrupt the Ukrainian\u2019s tempo. He looked similarly impressive against Josh Taylor, however underwhelming showings against the likes of Sandor Martin leave fans guessing which version will show up. Lopez\u2019s last outing, a UD over Arnold Barboza, was impressive again.<\/p>\n<p>One fighter who sees Lopez \u2013 a betting underdog \u2013 successfully defending his WBO title is Foster, who, while speaking with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/utXAj4qR1Bw?si=DumAvX4GMq4yUKMd\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FightHype<\/a>, suggests that the 28-year-old\u2019s athleticism could prove a key advantage against Stevenson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStyles make fights. I think that\u2019s a bad style matchup for Shakur. Shakur, he likes to be the most athletic guy in the ring. When he\u2019s not, he has problems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a right-handed fighter out of the southpaw stance. So, when you\u2019re meeting guys that have athleticism, and fight with their strong hand at the back, you\u2019re going to have to rely on more than just your jab [as] the range finder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes [Stevenson] have a solid left hand? You\u2019ve seen him throw it but you\u2019ve never seen him knock nobody out with it \u2026 So I just think that when you meet certain guys, that\u2019s why I say the style, you meet certain guys you\u2019re going to have to rely on both of them hands and I just think it\u2019s a bad style match-up for him. I see Teofimo beating him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From a tactical perspective, it does seem as though this could be a battle between the jab of Stevenson \u2013 sharp; accurate \u2013 and the sneaky, but no less spiteful, right hand of Lopez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WBC world super-featherweight champion O\u2019Shaquie Foster, who has previously sparred Shakur Stevenson, has offered his assessment of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-351089","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\/351089","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=351089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}