Eddie Hearn says he doesn’t imagine Shakur Stevenson’s size drawback against Teofimo Lopez will prevent him from defeating him of their possible fight in January 2026.
Hearn believes that Shakur’s skills will allow him to cope with WBO light welterweight champion Lopez’s size.
Shakur Pushes Back
“We were talking in regards to the size of Teofimo Lopez. He’s not a large 140, but he’s still a decent-sized 140,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Brian Custer’s channel. “I said to Shakur [Stevenson] ‘You’ll be the smaller guy in that fight.’ ‘No, I won’t.’ I said, ‘You might be.’”
Shakur may not be the smaller guy, but he’ll be gifting away quite a bit in the facility department. That counts for a similar thing as him gifting away size. Lopez, 5’9″, has a one-inch height advantage over the 5’8″ Shakur, and a half-inch reach.
“I said, ‘I don’t think it’ll necessarily affect anything. I feel you’ll win the fight. That’s when it starts to be an actual challenge if you end up fighting a much bigger guy,” said Hearn about his conversation with Shakur Stevenson being the smaller fighter at 140.
Giving freely size to Teofimo will very likely affect Shakur, as he’s used to being the larger fighter with the longer reach. With him fighting Lopez, Shakur might be coping with a man his size, but with quite a bit more power. So, he can’t get away with fighting together with his back against the ropes for 12 rounds like he did in his last fight against William Zepeda on May 2, 2025.
Teo Built for This Division
“That’s an interesting style match-up. I don’t know the way it’s going to gel, the 2 styles. They’re each incredibly skillful. Teo is admittedly tricky at times, and sometimes a bit weird with the best way he fights. But he’s an incredible talent,” said Hearn.
Even when Teofimo and Shakur are roughly the identical size, Teo is the much larger puncher and more suited to the 140-lb division. Stevenson is forced to fight at 135, as he doesn’t possess enough power to campaign at light welterweight. Staying at 140 would mean that Shakur would must compete with these wolves:
Ernesto Mercado
Keyshawn Davis
Gary Antuanne Russell
Isaac Cruz
Subriel Matias
Alberto Puello
Kevin Brown
Jamaine Ortiz
Kenneth Sims
Richardson Hitchins
Stevenson might give you the option to beat a few of those fighters, however it’s possible that over half would beat him. Teofimo is amongst them by way of power and the problem that he’ll bring to Shakur.
Last Updated on 10/23/2025