Two decades after Floyd Mayweather dismantled Arturo Gatti to launch his pay-per-view empire, unbeaten southpaw genius Shakur Stevenson steps into a strikingly familiar role against Mexico’s hard-charging William Zepeda this Saturday on DAZN PPV. Just as Mayweather needed Gatti’s all-action magnetism to convert brilliance into mass appeal, Stevenson appears to have found his perfect foil in Zepeda - a relentless volume-puncher determined to drag him into the trenches.
The stylistic parallels are obvious. Stevenson, an Olympic silver medallist and already a three-division champion, wins with distance, angles and near-untouchable defence; detractors call him clinical to a fault. Zepeda, by contrast, overwhelms foes with sustained pressure and heavy hands - an approach that evokes Gatti’s beloved brawling spirit even if his résumé lacks a signature war. One camp expects a tactical masterclass; the other believes pressure will finally crack the Newark prodigy’s aura of control.
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For Stevenson, this night at Louis Armstrong Stadium carries career-shaping stakes beyond the WBC lightweight belt. A dominant, highlight-reel victory - his “Gatti moment” - could catapult him toward the superstar tier and set the table for megafights with Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta Davis and others, mirroring Mayweather’s post-Gatti march through De La Hoya and Hatton. Anything less risks reinforcing the narrative that brilliance alone isn’t enough to move the broader audience.
Zepeda, meanwhile, can seize everything with a single upset: a major title, crossover respect and the role of spoiler that Gatti never quite managed against Mayweather. His supporters insist Stevenson’s footwork has yet to meet a pursuer this dogged; skeptics counter that the Mexican’s aggression is tailor-made for Shakur’s radar-lock counters.
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Whether it echoes the one-sided showcase of 2005 or erupts into unexpected turbulence, Stevenson-Zepeda arrives with the rare promise of clarifying a division and defining two careers at once. Twenty years on, boxing fans again ask the same question: can supreme skill shine brightest under pressure, or will relentless heart rewrite the script?
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The undercard is also one not to miss for boxing fans, as Brooklyn’s Edgar Berlanga squares off against undefeated Brit Hamzah Sheeraz, WBC super-lightweight titlist Alberto Puello meets Puerto Rican knockout machine Subriel Matias in a revenge-minded slugfest; former two-division champ David Morrell welcomes unbeaten puncher Imam Khataev up at light heavyweight; and rising prospects Mohammed Alakel and Reito Tsutsumi look to dazzle early arrivals on the prelims.
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