NEW YORK — Shakur Stevenson advised boxing fans that they should not expect him to continue fighting the way he fought Saturday night.

The usually elusive Stevenson, one of boxing’s best defensive fighters, took more risks during his 12-round, 135-pound championship bout with William Zepeda. The skillful southpaw wanted to prove he could entertain by being more offensive against a dangerous opponent in the co-feature of “Ring III” at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens.

The unbeaten WBC lightweight champion’s style shift led to numerous exciting exchanges and a more memorable bout than any of Stevenson’s victories over the past couple years. Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs) withstood Zepeda’s power and consistently connected with straight lefts and right hooks that produced a wide win on all three scorecards.

Stevenson, 28, answered emphatically and honestly when asked afterward if he will employ this fan-friendly style in future fights.

“Hell, no,” a laughing Stevenson said during his post-fight press conference. “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.”

Stevenson nevertheless delivered a complete, crowd-pleasing performance when faced with one of his truest threats. The three-division champion was a 12-1 favorite according to several sportsbooks, but the aggressive, hard-hitting Zepeda entered the ring undefeated and had knocked out 82 percent of his opponents in nearly 10 years as a professional.

Stevenson, The Ring’s No. 2-ranked lightweight, admitted the third-rated Zepeda pushed him in ways no other opponent had done. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist also acknowledged he sacrificed too much defensively, despite that judges Kevin Morgan (119-109), Glenn Feldman (118-110) and Mike Fitzgerald (118-110) all had him winning by huge margins on their cards.

“It was sometimes he would get stuff through,” Stevenson said. “That’s what I wanna take away. And it’s always things you can work on and get better. When I get back to the drawing board, I'm a go watch it and see what I need to do different. And once I see it, I'm a make sure I get on top of it.”

Four-division champ Terence Crawford and retired two-division champ Andre Ward, two of Stevenson’s mentors, thought he spent too much time backed against the ropes. Stevenson agreed, but he felt comfortable in that position because it enabled him to fire counter shots back at Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs).

“You know what’s crazy?” Stevenson said. “Everybody in my corner, Andre Ward, Bud [Crawford], all them told me, ‘Stay off the ropes.’ But I don’t know, I been kinda like feeling comfortable on the ropes sometimes. I feel like fighters open up on the ropes.

“When I was on the ropes, I kinda took advantage of opportunities when he would open and I would counter him with shots. So, they right. I agree with them. I'm a make sure I work on it and make sure I don’t stay there too long. But that was part of the game plan, I guess.”

Handling his mandatory challenger with such relative ease pleased Stevenson, who was happier than usual after a fight. The Newark, New Jersey, native wasn’t quite ready to call this thorough win the best victory of his eight-year professional career, though.

“He pushed me to another level,” Stevenson said. “He brung out a side of me that y’all didn’t get to see. I showed y’all something [Saturday night]. It could be one of my best wins. But I’m not gonna take credit away from the Jamel Herring performance, the [Oscar] Valdez performance. I’m a performer, also, so that’s what I’m here for.”

Stevenson stopped Herring (then 23-2), a former WBO junior lightweight champ, in the 10th round of their 130-pound championship match in October 2021 in Atlanta. In his following fight, he dominated two-division champ Valdez (then 30-0) on his way to a 12-round, unanimous points win in April 2022 in Las Vegas.