Shakur Stevenson’s Skill Beats Teofimo Lopez’s Size

Eddie Hearn says he doesn’t believe Shakur Stevenson’s size disadvantage against Teofimo Lopez will prevent him from defeating him in their possible fight in January 2026.

Hearn believes that Shakur’s skills will allow him to deal with WBO light welterweight champion Lopez’s size.

Shakur Pushes Back

“We were talking about the size of Teofimo Lopez. He’s not a massive 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 will be.’”

Shakur might not be the smaller guy, but he’ll be giving away a lot in the power department. That counts for the same thing as him giving 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 think you’ll win the fight. That’s when it starts to be a real challenge when you are fighting a bigger guy,” said Hearn about his conversation with Shakur Stevenson being the smaller fighter at 140.

Giving away size to Teofimo will very likely affect Shakur, as he’s used to being the bigger fighter with the longer reach. With him fighting Lopez, Shakur will be dealing with a guy his size, but with a lot more power. So, he can’t get away with fighting 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 how it will gel, the two styles. They’re both incredibly skillful. Teo is really tricky at times, and sometimes a bit weird with the way he fights. But he’s an incredible talent,” said Hearn.

Even if Teofimo and Shakur are roughly the same size, Teo is the much bigger 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 have to 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 be able to beat some of those fighters, but it’s possible that over half would beat him. Teofimo is among them in terms of power and the difficulty that he’ll bring to Shakur.