After months of back-and-forth throughout last year, the highly anticipated clash between Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez was finally confirmed for January 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York. With fight night just days away, both fighters made an appearance at a recent New York Knicks game to help promote the bout.

The Knicks hosted the Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden—the same iconic venue set to stage the Stevenson-Lopez fight. While New York cruised to a convincing 103–87 win, extending their winning streak to three games, the spotlight briefly shifted to boxing as ‘Sugar’ and ‘The Takeover’ came face-to-face for the first time during fight week.

Shakur Stevenson doesn’t plan on putting on a fan-friendly fight

Ring Magazine shared the update on X, adding even more hype to the upcoming clash. “FIRST FACE-OFF OF FIGHT WEEK,” they captioned the post. “Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson meet on court at the Knicks game in The Garden ahead of their fight this Saturday.” The event, billed as The Ring VI, is set to stream live exclusively on DAZN.

Stevenson will be aiming to capture a world title in a fourth weight class as he moves up to super lightweight for the bout. Lopez, meanwhile, will defend his WBO super lightweight title for the fourth time since defeating Josh Taylor in June 2023 to claim the belt. Stevenson enters the fight on the back of a unanimous decision victory over William Zepeda in June last year.

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In the buildup, Stevenson has faced criticism for so-called ‘Tom and Jerry’ fights, with fans scrutinizing his heavily defensive boxing style. While he appeared to silence those critics with a more aggressive showing against Zepeda, Stevenson has since clarified that the approach was specific to that fight and that he intends to return to his defensive style in future bouts.

“Hell, no,” Stevenson said after the Zepeda fight when asked whether he would continue putting on fan-friendly performances. “I ain’t gonna lie—I wanna put on performances, but I also kinda took more punishment than usual. So, I wanna get back on my boxing, make sure I don’t take a lotta punishment in there. So, nah, I don’t plan on getting hit no more.”

That doesn’t faze Teofimo Lopez, however. ‘The Takeover’ has promised that “Shakur will fall” when they finally meet inside the ring. Despite that, expectations among fans appear to be a boring performance from Shakur Stevenson, with some openly expressing their desire for Stevenson’s loss, believing it could help revive boxing’s declining reputation.

Fans root for Teofimo Lopez to win, but for the wrong reasons

Shakur Stevenson remains undefeated and is considered one of the greats in the current generation of boxers. However, his reputation among fans doesn’t always reflect that. “Shakur [is] probably [going to] win, but Shakur losing this fight is better for boxing, so I’m rooting for Teo,” the user commented. However, Lopez didn’t fare too well against Jamaine Ortiz, who has a similar defensive approach. Even though Lopez won that fight, it was draped in controversy. 

Meanwhile, this user roped in His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. “No Tom and Jerry fights. I have a feeling someone gonna be running all night, then the boos will ring out. We need a shrinking for this one, Turki,” the user commented. But the fight appears to have a standard 20×20 ring for the fight. 

Another user wished for Shakur’s downfall. “Shakur getting KO’d is the best thing for boxing,” the user commented. Well, if Stevenson gets knocked out, it will be the first time his body has touched the canvas. 

Meanwhile, this user already appears to know how the fight will unfold. “If SS does what he does best (run around the ring), he might get it ngl,” the user commented. Yet, counting Teofimo Lopez out so soon might be a major mistake. After all, he has defeated some of the greatest names in the sport—Vasyl Lomachenko, Josh Taylor, and more. 

Even content creator Wade Plemons chimed in, but didn’t have an optimistic view of Lopez. “Teo [is] not looking like the bigger man here,” Plemons commented. Lightweight is merely 5 pounds away from super lightweight, so there shouldn’t really be that much of a difference. Not to mention, the final weigh-in results are yet to come. 

Safe to say, it’s clear what the fans want when Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez enter the ring on fight night. But what do you want from the fight?