By Eóin Kennedy
It’s only been four months since Shakur Stevenson secured the vacant WBC lightweight world championship with a win over Edwin De Los Santos but it feels a lot longer due to Stevenson’s public eagerness to get back in the ring asap. The Newark native has been openly critical of and disappointed in his showing against De Los Santos despite the win. Fans were quick to jump on his back both in the arena that night showering him with boos post-fight, and online where he temporarily became a meme for his alleged running tactic. Well, the wait for redemption appears to be over as according to reports circulating today, Steveson will be making his return in his home state of New Jersey on July 6th.
Despite seeming evidently rattled by the criticisms and lampooning on social media, Steveson has reacted like a true champion should and wants to defend his world title against the toughest available challenger at the earliest possible juncture. At least that’s the company line. Stevenson has one fight left on his promotional deal with Top Rank and despite comments from the fighter stating he wouldn’t be continuing his relationship with the company after his next fight, Top Rank head honcho Bob Arum was quick to contradict him, claiming talks were still ongoing and that he expected Stevenson to re-sign.
So given that we know that he has one fight left on his current Top Rank deal and that fight will take place in the summer, it gives us enough information to make a calculated guess on who the lead contenders for opponent are. Let’s take a look:
William Zepeda
Oscar De La Hoya stoked the flames for this one with a social media post yesterday saying his fighter, Zepeda, is begging him to get a fight with Stevenson. The WBC champion promptly responded saying he’s up for that match up. Zepeda does have a fight this upcoming Saturday against English veteran Maxi Hughes. Zepeda is 29-0 with 25 knockouts. Hughes, though a wily and tough fighter, is in the twilight of his career and having tasted defeat six times already and having only registered five knockouts in his career, it’s likely Zepeda will overpower him and move onwards. Stevenson is with Top Rank and Zepeda is with Golden Boy, but cross promotional fights seem to be in vogue these days.
Maxi Hughes
In the off chance that Hughes does cause the upset and derail Zepeda’s plans on Saturday night, he would naturally begin shouting Stevenson’s name. Hughes is enjoying a bit of renaissance in this latter part of his career and his loss to Georg Kambosos last time out was as close as you can get, and should he be victorious on Saturday night he would be able to call for any fight on merit. Th fact Saturday’s fight is an eliminator for the IBF title may be a stumbling block in getting the winner to go straight for Shakur though.
Raymonda Muratella
Despite wanting all the smoke in the division, the list of possible opponents is bare due to lots of the top stars already being penciled in to face one another. Gervonta Davis faces Frank Martin and Vasiliy Lomachenko fights Kambosos, both in the next few months, which are huge fights for boxing in general. But these fights leave Stevenson with slim pickings. That’s where Muratella may come in. Ranked within the top ten by the Ring magazine, Muratella boasts a 19-0 record. Although the victories have come against a much lower standard of opposition, the Californian fighter’s unbeaten record may be enough of a selling point when options are scarce.
There are not too many options for the Olympic silver medalist to weigh up right now. In terms of securing the toughest and most lucrative fight possible currently available, Stevenson better hope Zepeda comes through Saturday night and that Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya are willing to play ball.