Terence Crawford predicts that his friend Shakur Stevenson will thrash WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez when they battle on January 31, 2026.
Crawford has been a mentor for the former three-division world champion Shakur (24-0, 11 KOs). He’s even patterned his fighting style after the Omaha, Nebraska native.
“What I do know is Shakur Stevenson is beating the f*** out of Teofimo Lopez on fight night,” said Terence Crawford via Ring Magazine on X.
Friendship Clouding Judgment
The problem with Crawford’s prediction is that Shakur hasn’t thrashed any of the good lightweights since moving up to 135 in 2023. Terence is letting his friendship with Shakur cloud his judgment because he lacks the firepower to beat the living daylights out of Teo.
Indeed, if Shakur tries to fight like that, it could be a disaster for him. Teo is cut from a different cloth from the opposition that Steveson built his inflated 24-0 resume on as a pro.
Shakur’s Zepeda Warning
Stevenson didn’t look impressive in his last fight at 135, defending his WBC title against William Zepeda on July 12.
He won a 12-round unanimous decision over Zepeda, but he was hit a lot and showed no power. That performance by Shakur showed that he doesn’t have the pop in his punches to fight at 135 or above. Going up to 140 to face Teofimo (22-1, 13 KOs) is asking for trouble.
Stevenson isn’t likely to stand and fight Lopez as he did against the volume puncher Zepeda, as he hits too hard and is too accurate with his shots. Teo would get to Shakur’s head and likely knock him out or drop him.
Knockdown That Wasn’t Called
In Shakur’s fight with Zepeda, he appeared to suffer a knockdown in round five when he was nailed by a right hand that sent him crashing against the ropes. The referee failed to make the call, but the replays showed that the ropes had held Stevenson up.
That fight looked strange from the blown call to the wide scoring by the three-judge crew, which failed to match the fight that took place inside the ring.
It looked like a razor-close fight with Shakur barely doing enough to win. However, the judges gave Stevenson a lopsided 12-round decision win by the scores 118-110, 118-110, and 119-109. I had it scored as a draw. I counted the blown call on the missed knockdown in the fifth, as well as all the body shots that Zepeda hit Stevenson with that were seemingly ignored by the three judges on duty that night.