NEW YORK – Shakur Stevenson swears he wasn’t hurt late in the third round of his impressive victory over William Zepeda on Saturday night.

Stevenson explained during his post-fight press conference that it might’ve seemed like Zepeda’s right hand hurt him with just under 30 seconds to go in the third round because he was off balance. That sequence caused a reaction from the crowd and DAZN’s broadcast team because Stevenson briefly lost his footing while he was backed against the ropes.

Once his feet were set, however, Stevenson slipped several of Zepeda’s punches and threw back hard punches of his own within a few seconds.

“Yo, people think that I got hurt,” Stevenson said. “I was just watching the video. Because he threw a jab and I kinda was off balance. And when I was off balance, he kinda kept throwing, so it looked like I was hurt. But I promise you, if I was hurt, I would tell y’all.”

A motivated Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs) took more risks than usual against Zepeda because he grew tired of constant criticism of his typically defensive style. Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) knocked out 82 percent of his opponents entering their 12-round fight for Stevenson’s WBC lightweight title, yet Stevenson took the Mexican southpaw’s power well when he landed during the co-feature of “Ring III” at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens.

The left-handed Stevenson assessed Zepeda’s power after taking an unofficial total of 153 power punches from his aggressive challenger.

“He got a little thump,” Stevenson said. “He got 27 knockouts, man. We at the highest level of boxing right now, so he got a little thump. He got like thudding power. It ain’t like one-punch, kill-you power. It’s like thudding. When he punch you over and over and over you could feel it. So, he’s tough.”

Stevenson believes he made Zepeda respect his power as well, which was vital to the three-division champion’s game plan.

An aggressive Stevenson landed an unusually high 56 percent of his power shots on Zepeda. Stevenson landed 199 of 358 power punches in their 12-round bout, whereas Zepeda connected on 31 percent of his power punches (153 of 501).

“I was trying to let them know that I could punch,” Stevenson said. “I had to get his respect. It was times in there where it was like he was trying to like walk through my punches, but then you seen him slow down. And he had to respect my punches. So, that was my main thing [Saturday night].”

The Newark, New Jersey native didn’t appear to hurt Zepeda at any point in their fan-friendly fight, either, but Stevenson’s superiority was evident on the scorecards.

Judge Kevin Morgan (119-109) scored 11 rounds for Stevenson. Judges Glenn Feldman (118-110) and Mike Fitzgerald (118-110) scored 10 rounds apiece for the 2016 Olympic silver medalist.

Stevenson, who is No. 2 in The Ring’s lightweight rankings, satisfied his mandatory obligation with the WBC by beating Zepeda, The Ring’s third-rated contender in the 135-pound division.