Robert Garcia Reacts to Shakur Stevenson’s Sly Call-Out of William Zepeda With a Challenge: “Just Give Us 2 Weeks”

The date is fixed and the venue is sorted, but who will Shakur Stevenson fight against next? While calls for William Zepeda as his next opponent have intensified over the past few days, former world champion and legendary trainer Robert Garcia has proposed an alternative for ‘Sugar’.

After a short-lived retirement that hardly lasted a few weeks, Stevenson is set to enter the ring again. As per reports, the three-division world champion will fight on the 6th of July in his home state New Jersey at the Prudential Center. However, what had remained undecided until now was who his opponent would be for the face-off.  

Shakur Stevenson struck by choices

Last night in a Las Vegas fight, Mexican lightweight, William Zepeda impressed the world after he defeated Maxi Hughes in a second-round retirement. Post the fight, a boxing journalist posed a pertinent question on his social media. Who should the 27-year-old fight against next? Gervonta Davis or Shakur Stevenson? Immediately, jumping onto the wagon, Stevenson responded to the post on X.

The WBC lightweight champion threw his name into the mix. Following this, Robert Garcia chimed in. While responding to Stevenson’s reaction to Zepeda’s victory, Garcia wrote, “We have someone that’s already with Top Rank ready Champ. Just give us 2 weeks.”  The trainer, however, did not mention any concrete names, but if guesses were to be made, he was perhaps referring to Raymond Muratalla. The fighter is currently a Top Tank prospect and has been training under Robert Garcia for a while now.

After he defeated Edwin De Los Santos in November last year, Stevenson was heavily criticized for the close encounter he had with loss. Now, with potential opponents like Zepeda and Muratalla, the competition he faces could get harder. Southpaw, Zepeda is 30-undefeated and is close to being hailed as a knockout machine. ‘Danger’ Muratalla on the other hand, undefeated too, comes with a similar KO ratio with his 16 out of 19 victories attributed to KOs.

Sugar has not confirmed if he is interested in taking on Danger. However, for Zepeda on the other hand, he remains all in. After all, it is the “real killer” he gets to face off against.

“The Killer” vs. Sugar

After his recent victory, Zepeda has emerged as the mandatory challenger to the WBA and IBF titles. While the WBA crown is held by ‘Tank,’ the IBF titlist will be determined when Vasyl Lomachenko fights George Kambosos Jr. on May 12th.

On X, right after Zepeda had aced his fight, Rick Glasser, the IBHOF elector sang praises of him. He wrote, “#WilliamZepeda is all that, & the best is yet to come. Zepeda is now the WBA Mandatory for #TankDavis, & Mandatory for the winner of the IBF title fight Loma-Kambosos. Zepeda vs Tank Davis would be an all action! 

In response, Stevenson, the WBC champion also noted that Zepeda remains right behind him for the title. “He also #1 for the WBC.. A real killer right in front of me and I don’t any opponent lined up lol #StevensonZepeda next let’s make it happen!!”

Also Read: After Devin Haney Offer, Shakur Stevenson Accepts This “Real Killer” as His Next Opponent

Who do you think will be a befitting opponent for Shakur Stevenson next – William Zepeda, Raymond Muratalla, or someone else entirely? Let us know your choice in the comments section below.