Shakur Stevenson sees plenty of defensive flaws in William Zepeda, so many holes he is certain he will pick apart his dangerous challenger July 12.

The Mexican southpaw is known for relentlessly pressuring opponents and throwing a lot of punches as he consistently comes forward. Zepeda’s style makes him fan-friendly, yet vulnerable to counter punches, as Tevin Farmer demonstrated during his first fight with Zepeda seven months ago.

Stevenson still must remain mindful of Zepeda’s power. He told The Ring, however, that there is one “secret” tactic Farmer, also a left-handed opponent, utilized when he fought Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) in back-to-back bouts that has completely convinced the unbeaten WBC lightweight champion that Zepeda’s style perfectly suits Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) in his quest to dominate and entertain in their 12-round, 135-pound title fight at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

“I want them to keep thinking what they thinking, because they running with this fake run logic in they head, where I’m running around the ring,” Stevenson said. “And I really don’t do that. Keep thinking what y’all thinking. And then when this bigger, supposedly stronger fighter who's got more knockouts comes running at me, let’s see what I do. Imma show how I handle it. I’m here to perform.”

The 28-year-old Stevenson is commonly considered one of the most skillful boxers in the sport, undoubtedly one of its most effective defensive fighters.

Pound-for-pound recognition waned once Stevenson settled for an unquestionable but unimpressive unanimous points victory over Edwin De Los Santos in November 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Stevenson fought through hand and shoulder injuries that night, but he wasn’t exactly entertaining in his following fight, either, an even easier decision defeat of Artem Harutyunyan in July 2024 at Prudential Center in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey.

The 2016 Olympic silver medalist mostly fought from his preferred distance and didn’t engage much over the course of those 24 rounds against the Dominican Republic’s De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs) and Germany’s Harutyunyan (12-2, 7 KOs).

The three-division champion pummeled England’s Josh Padley for much of his last bout, which resulted in a ninth-round technical knockout February 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Padley (16-1, 5 KOs) was a huge underdog, though, and took their fight on four days’ notice because Stevenson’s original opponent, undefeated Floyd Schofield Jr., was hospitalized during fight week in Riyadh.

DraftKings lists Stevenson as a 10-1 favorite to defeat Zepeda, the mandatory challenger for his WBC belt, thus Stevenson obviously is expected to win. This appearance on “Ring III” isn’t just about winning for Stevenson – it’s about boxing in a way that both enables Stevenson to utilize his skills and satisfies fans who have grown wary of style.

“Shakur is one of those guys who needs a couple explosive performances to remind people of the fact that he can be entertaining, as well as dominant,” promoter Lou DiBella said. “But there’s no issue as to how good he is. I don’t work with him. I have no stake in this, but if you know boxing and watch him fight, he can fight his ass off. He’s a terrific fighter. And now he has an opportunity I see as a huge opportunity for him.

“Because, in my mind, if you wanna make a point against a guy who’s highly regarded for good reason, but that is perfect for you, [Zepeda] is perfect for him because he doesn’t offer anything scientific or fancy. He’s just aggressive, comes forward. He’s a very traditional Mexican championship-level warrior. And he makes it very hard, stylistically, to look bad against him. I think Shakur has the opportunity here to dominate him by boxing and picking him off and then electing whether he wants to make a statement or not.”

Stevenson has fought from the pocket at times, but not against an opponent with Zepeda’s power. Beating Zepeda impressively on this DAZN Pay-Per-View show would help him re-establish some of the momentum Stevenson built as he soundly defeated former champions Jamel Herring and Oscar Valdez, Robson Conceicao and Shuichiro Yoshino over a 17-month stretch from October 2021 to April 2023.

Zepeda hopes some of the pressure on Stevenson to perform impressively provides opportunities for him to hurt Stevenson if Stevenson stands in front of him more than Zepeda anticipates. The strong southpaw told The Ring he will do whatever is necessary to make Stevenson fight, even if it means becoming more susceptible to getting knocked out himself.

“I’m praying for him to stand there and fight with me,” Zepeda said. “That’s what I like. That’s what I want. But he hasn’t been hit by me. He hasn’t felt one of my body shots yet. So, when he does, hopefully he does stand there and fight with me. But I’m a doubter.”