One of the top contenders of the lightweight division, William Zepeda, finds himself in a unique position where he is ranked No. 1 by all four major sanctioning bodies. What’s more, the WBC has ordered Shakur Stevenson to defend his title against mandatory challenger Zepeda. Now both fighters need to enter negotiations and hammer out a deal, before the deadline for the purse bid on August 20. Currently, with WBA champion Gervonta Davis, and IBF champion Vasyl Lomachenko, both, giving Shakur Stevenson the snub, a fight with the 31-0 fighter seems to be the best bet for a decent payday for Stevenson.

Shakur Stevenson had earlier expressed interest in fighting Zepeda provided he doesn’t get a shot at a unification bout with any title holders of the lightweight division. Well, there is good news for Stevenson as Zepeda’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya has changed his tune and has now decided to finally allow the fight to happen.

Is Oscar De La Hoya eager enough?

In an interview with FightHype, Oscar De La Hoya expressed interest in giving his fighter Zepeda a shot at what could be his first world title fight against the Newark native. “I want to make that fight. Shakur, skill-wise, is probably the best fighter on the planet today,” De La Hoya said.

However, the Olympic gold medalist has not dished out any details about when he wants to make the fight. He didn’t seem to be in a rush. On that note, the six-division world champion opined that Stevenson’s fighting style was not “fan-friendly”, and exhibited a hint of hesitation as he was worried about the 27-year-old fighter’s capability to “sell tickets”.

“He has to be able to sell tickets. His boxing style is not that friendly to sell tickets but I think that William Zepeda vs. Shakur Stevenson is a huge fight,” De La Hoya said while expressing his concern.

There is some truth to what Oscar is saying as Stevenson’s last two fights against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos weren’t entertaining at all, to say the least. In fact, in his last performance against Harutyunyan in front of his home crowd, he was greeted with boos and several fans left the boxing match midway. Therefore, many fans are demanding a change in his offensive approach to balance out his impregnable defense.

Nonetheless, even with his current reservations, De La Hoya seemed keen to finalize the fight. “I think the only one that’s in the way of making that fight is me, but I’ll tell you one thing. I will make that fight,” The Golden Boy asserted.

However, did you know that Oscar De La Hoya had earlier suggested another way for Shakur Stevenson to finalize the fight against William Zepeda?

Join us, then maybe?

Notably, Stevenson became a free agent after his last fight against Harutyunyan in June this year. He was with Top Rank and recently turned down a five-fight, $15 million contract renewal offer. Thus, several promoters were in a rush to sign the promising star of the lightweight division despite his recent lackluster performances. Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya was one of them. In a bid to lure Stevenson, ‘The Golden Boy’ made an interesting proposition. “Had a great meeting with @ShakurStevenson representatives. @williamzepeda2 will only fight him if Shakur is signed to @GoldenBoyBoxing,” Oscar wrote on X.

Ultimately the negotiations fell through, and Oscar changed his mind as there were still big question marks about Stevenson’s sellability. “Shakur Stevenson, you’re a free agent, you’re a great fighter, great talent, but not for me. I believe that when somebody says ‘I’m not fighting for the public,’ I cannot promote (them).” he wrote on X, throwing water over the prospect of him fighting Zepeda.

As things stand, Shakur Stevenson is still not signed to any promotion. On top of that, he finds himself in a peculiar position where he is having difficulty bagging big-money fights due to his poor past performances, even though he is a title-holder in his division. Therefore, he needs to find a good promoter as soon as possible who can find him fights that will bring out the best in him.

Nonetheless, would you like to see Shakur Stevenson fight William Zepeda? Let us know in the comment section below.