Oscar de la Jolla on Zepeda’s defeat to Stephenson: “The score was off”

Promoter Oscar de la Hoya says he believed “The score was off.” Due to William Zepeda’s 12th round unanimous decision loss against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (24-0, 11 Kos) in Queens, New York last Saturday night. De La Joya believes that Sharkur fought enough to deserve victory.

Why did the score get off?

Oscar said Zepeda (33-1, 27 Kos) made the action better in the first half of the fight, but then Shakur came in the second half. De La Jolla did not give him his thoughts on how he won the fight.

Many fans felt that Zepeda had done enough to win all of the first six rounds. In the way the judges won the fight, they focused on headshots and ignored Zepeda’s bodywork and volume punch. That’s how judges are trained. Many of them fully adjust the body punch and only observe the headshot.

“It was a good fight. The score was off, but Shakur did him. The first half was Zepeda, and the second half was Shakur. Fighting the Hubin response to his fighter William Zepeda, losing to Shakur Stephenson last Saturday night.

“It was coming and going. It was a great show. It’s back to the drawings, but there’s nothing one loss. One loss for a really good fighter like Shakur means nothing. You’re going to bounce back from it. That’s boxing.”

De La Joya does not mention that the flaws that Zepeda showed against Shakur were similar to those he showed in his two razor battle with Tevin Farmer. Zepeda gets hit with many hits with clean, impressing judges.

What were the flaws in Zepeda’s Battle?

1. Easy to hit with headshots
2. Focus too much on body punching: The judges don’t get punches in their bodies like headshots. As long as the fighter is not visibly hurt, they tend to ignore the body punch when they win a round.
3. The power of the volume shot is not sufficient: Zepeda’s power is not sufficient in his high power attack, as he outweighs the headshots that please judges from fighters like Shakur and farmers.

“He (Zepeda) threw more punches, but one thing about Shakur is the punch he lands. They are very effective. So they’re perfect for scoring. Overall I think it was a good fight. I think it was another great experience for Zepeda.

Where Zepeda failed was close enough to Stephenson to reach his head with a punch. Many of the “Elcamaron” Zepeda shots were shorter as Shakur leaned backwards most of the time. William could have corrected this by getting closer before targeting his head.

Another problem Zepeda had was the retention of Shakur. He did not fight through the clinch like other fighters. Zepeda allowed Stevenson to tie him down, rather than wrestling freely or hit him while he was in custody. He could have done either of these. It’s a Zepeda training issue.