ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Shakur Stevenson’s promoter hopes the WBC lightweight champion’s mandated fight with William Zepeda doesn’t require a purse bid.

The WBC has given Hearn and promotional rival Oscar De La Hoya until May 6 to voluntarily reach an agreement on Stevenson-Zepeda. Otherwise, the Mexico City-based WBC will hold a purse bid that day, which could leave Stevenson in a vulnerable position if De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions were to win and take their 12-round, 135-pound championship match wherever it wants, including Zepeda’s native Mexico.

Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions both have output deals with DAZN, which should help in trying to strike a deal before May 6.

“I think when you’ve got a relationship with another promoter, and particularly the platform, with us and Golden Boy on DAZN, generally you would always wanna make a deal,” Hearn told The Ring amidst promoting the Jaron Ennis-Eimantas Stanionis welterweight title unification fight Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall. “But sometimes you can’t make a deal. So, if it has to go to purse bid, it has to go to purse bid. But we would always prefer to do a deal. I think we can do a deal.

“The market’s changing all the time. You’ve got the influx of the Saudi money, and naturally there will be a slight reverse on that, in terms of equating the value for fights. We’ve seen it with DAZN, we’ve seen it with PBC. It happens all the time. And there is a different value to a fight when it’s in Saudi versus when it’s in the U.S.”

Hearn mentioned market correction because Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) is displeased that he more than likely won’t make what he expected to earn for facing Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) based on initial discussions with Turki Alalshikh, the head of Riyadh Season and Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority.

Stevenson vented on X about his most recent offer for the Zepeda fight, which is comparable to his purse for his 9th-round technical knockout of Josh Padley on February 22 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist earned a career-high payday for his easy victory over Padley (15-1, 4 KOs), who was a full-time electrician when he took their fight on only four days’ notice once Stevenson’s original opponent, Floyd Schofield Jr., was hospitalized during fight week.

The 27-year-old Stevenson earned the same seven-figure financial package for facing England’s Padley, against whom he was a 50-1 favorite, as he would’ve made for boxing Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs), of Austin, Texas. Like Zepeda, Schofield is represented by Golden Boy Promotions, which has not publicly provided additional information as to why Schofield ended up in a Riyadh hospital.

Schofield’s father initially claimed that someone from Stevenson’s team poisoned his son. The strange circumstances surrounding Schofield’s removal from their bout by the British Boxing Board of Control could’ve led to Stevenson’s removal from the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undercard.

The 28-year-old Zepeda’s controversial victory over former IBF junior lightweight champ Tevin Farmer in their first fight, which took place November 16 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, also might’ve devalued a Stevenson-Zepeda bout in the eyes of DAZN’s decision-makers. The hard-hitting Zepeda, a southpaw who owns the WBC interim lightweight title, defeated Philadelphia’s Farmer (33-8-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC) more decisively in their rematch March 29 at Poliforum Benito Juarez in Cancun, Mexico.

Now that Stevenson-Zepeda won’t be part of a Riyadh Season event, Matchroom and Golden Boy are exploring venues in the United States. Stevenson is a proven draw in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, where he has helped attract announced crowds in excess of 10,000 for two of his three main events at Prudential Center since September 2022.

“What we will do with Golden Boy, we will go to DAZN and we will get their number for the fight,” Hearn said. “And then we will look at potential gates. You know, we know that he’s done over $1 million gates consistently in Newark for pretty standard fights [against Robson Conceicao, Shuichiro Yoshino and Artem Harutyunyan]. But this is a proper fight. This is a big fight that will do really, really well there. So, I’m excited. I think it’s a great fight for Shakur. I think it’s the fight to have before he fights Tank, which is a natural fight. And hopefully, we can come to an agreement with Golden Boy.”

Stevenson signed a multi-fight contract with Hearn’s company in August. He turned down a five-fight offer earlier last summer to remain with longtime promoter Top Rank, which would’ve paid the former junior lightweight and featherweight champion a minimum of $15 million altogether.

The left-handed Stevenson was supposed to make his Matchroom debut against former IBF junior lightweight champ Joe Cordina on the Beterbiev-Bivol undercard October 12 at Kingdom Arena. Stevenson suffered a hand injury while training and withdrew from his fight with Wales’ Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs).

Once his hand healed after surgery, Stevenson agreed to face Schofield. He knew all along, though, that he would have to fight Zepeda if they both continued to win and he wanted to keep his title.