Turki Alalshikh let Shakur Stevenson know what he’s up against on Saturday, July 12th, dealing with the pressure fighter, William Zepeda, in a rematch that will appear to shrink as the fight goes on.

No Escape for Shakur

Turki is discussing how Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) cuts off the ring, forcing his opponents to exchange with him. He gets better at cutting off the ring, learning the movements, and trapping his prey like a cat catching a mouse. Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) is a pure runner without the power, hand speed, or toughness to fight a brawl with a fighter of Zepeda’s caliber.

With the ring size being reduced to 18 x 18 for the event on Saturday, that will make Shakur’s job even harder. He won’t have as much room to flee Zepeda, or use his clinching tactics, which are Shakur’s last line of defense, won’t work. Zepeda has had two fights against an expert clinician, Tevin Farmer, to prepare for the holding that Stevenson will do when he’s trapped against the ropes.

Shakur has bragged about how he’s going to administer a “beatdown” of Zepeda on July 12th, but those are just empty words to hide his fear. Inside, Stevenson is pure jelly, stressed out, thinking, ‘What am I going to do? How can I escape this Mexican tornado?’

A loss to Zepeda could make Shakur persona non grata at Turki’s Riyadh Season events. The only way that he can come out of the fight without his stock dropping in defeat is if he stands in the center of the ring like a soldier, fighting Zepeda and going down swinging like the Mexican talent’s past victims.

If Stevenson fights like Farmer did, holding his ground and taking the heavy shots for 12 rounds, he’ll still have his dignity in defeat and might still be welcome at future Turki events.

Crowd Demands Action

The absolute worst thing Shakur can do is run around the ring for 12 rounds, showing his yellow streak like he did in his fight against Edwin De Los Santos. The New York crowd is not going to put up with that kind of fighting without booing Shakur out of the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

See yall Saturday https://t.co/dLMVPPAuRs

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) July 6, 2025