Paulie Malignaggi says Shakur Stevenson may need to take a pay cut by offering a portion of his purse to lure WBC interim lightweight champion William Zepeda to fight him. He feels that Shakur (23-0, 11 KOs) is being avoided by the top guys at 135 because he’s so good.

Pay Cut Proposal 

To get those fighters like Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) to fight him, he’ll need to surrender some of his purse. Malignaggi thinks that a victory by Shakur over Zepeda will “force” the bigger fights against Gervonta Davis to happen.

More likely, it’ll work in reverse. An impressive victory for Stevenson over Zepeda will close the door forever for a fight against Tank Davis, especially if Shakur runs all night against the Mexican slugger.

He’ll have to move around the ring the entire fight because if he stands and fights Zepeda, he’ll get chewed up. Tevin Farmer absorbed a lot of punishment in the first six rounds of his recent fight against Zepeda, and the only reason he didn’t get stopped is that he has an excellent chin.

Shakur’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has the money to invest in him if he’s willing to use some of his company’s dough to get Zepeda. For a popular fighter like Zepeda, it’s going to be expensive. All Hearn needs to do is offer Zepeda $5 million, he’ll agree and then hope that Shakur does his part without being booed out of the venue. Hearn being stingy and tight-fisted will result in Stevenson existing in the shadows for as long as he remains with Matchroom.

If he gets booed by the fans like he was against Edwin De Los Santos and Jeremiah Nakathilia, he can forget about Tank.

Saudi Money Gone

The money that Shakur thought would be there from the Saudis is no longer there after his last fight against Josh Padley on February 22nd in Riyadh. Some fans believe the Saudis gave up on Stevenson after that abysmal performance against the part-time boxer Padley, who struggled against in a very dull fight.

“It’s kind of disappointing with the way Shakur has been done in this business. I feel like he’s an excellent fighter,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Fighthype, talking about how Shakur Stevenson hasn’t been able to get the fights he’s wanted. “He’s probably the best lightweight in the world.”

Shakur hasn’t beaten anyone at lightweight for him to receive the credit that Malignaggi is slathering on him. Stevenson’s fight against Edwin De Los Santos should have been a draw or a win for De Los Santos. The judges gave it to Shakur, but a lot of fans believe that was because of his popularity. He wasn’t supposed to lose.

Other than that win, Shakur’s victories have come against low-level fighters: Josh Padley [the electrician], inactive Artem Harutyunyan, who was coming off a loss, and little-known Shuichiro Yoshino.

I’m the black sheep of boxing I love it 😈

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) April 14, 2025

Avoidance Factor

“There maybe a situation where he may need to take a little bit of a pay cut to get those big fights and to try and establish himself with his performance,” said Malignaggi. “It sucks, I know. Only in boxing, you can be so good that you’re avoided. No other sport does that.”

That match is unlikely to happen unless Shakur dominates most of his purse to make it worthwhile for William Zepeda to fight him. Golden Boy and Zepeda obviously saw Shakur’s fight against De Los Santos, and they’ll know from watching that contest that winning a decision against him will be impossible.

If the judges are giving Shakur rounds for landing light punches, holding, and running, Zepeda won’t have a shot at winning. For Zepeda to have a chance, the fight would have to be staged on neutral territory in Mexico.

“When you’re that good, they got to go through you to be the best, or they can’t be the best. In boxing, you can be so good that sometimes you’re avoided if you’re not in the right situation, and everybody plays ball without you,” said Malignaggi.

The problem is that Shakur hasn’t shown that he’s “So good” for the top grade fighters at 135 to want to fight him. What he has shown is he’s a runner, a boring runner, and is regularly booed when he faces opposition with any kind of pop in their punches. He’s not popular and many light-years away from realizing PPV status.

Basically, he’s just known for his social media activity on X. Shakur’s current promoter, Eddie Hearn, has failed at transforming him into a star and hasn’t invested the dough as of yet to get the fights he needs to become a household name by fighting William Zepeda and Gervonta Davis.

Stevenson’s Predicament

“It’s crazy to me because I think Shakur is the premium lightweight in the world in a lightweight division that has some good fighters,” said Malignaggi. “I don’t know what the answer is. Maybe take a little bit of a pay cut to try and get the Zepeda fight and then dominate Zepeda. That will force the bigger fights that way because then you will have dominated a guy like Zepeda.

“I don’t know anymore. It’s such a stupid business. There’s crazy amount of money in it. It moves in weird ways. People play favorites. There’s a lot of politics as there is with anything if there’s a lot of money, but it gets so frustrating,” said Malignaggi.