Shakur Stevenson’s Skill Beats Teofimo Lopez’s Size

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

Hearn believes Shakur’s skills will allow him to handle the size of WBO light welterweight champion Lopez.

Shakur pushes back

“We were talking about Teofimo Lopez’s size. He’s not a huge 140, but he’s still a decent 140,” promoter Eddie Hearn told The Brian Custer Channel. “I said to Shakur [Stevenson] “You’ll be the smaller man in that fight.” “No, I won’t.” I said: It will be.

Shakur may not be the smallest guy, but he will offer a lot in the power department. This means the same thing as giving up size. Lopez, 5’9″, has a one-inch height advantage over the 5’8″ Shakur and a half-inch range.

“I don’t think it will necessarily affect anything,” I said. I think you will win the fight. That’s when the real challenge starts when you fight a bigger guy,” Hearn said of his conversation with Shakur Stevenson being the younger fighter at 140 years old.

Giving up size for Teofimo would very likely affect Shakur, as he is used to being the bigger fighter with the longer range. With his fight with Lopez, Shakur will be dealing with a man his size, but with a lot more power. Therefore, he cannot escape fighting with his back on the ropes for 12 rounds like he did in his last fight against William Zepeda on May 2, 2025.

Teo is designed for this section

“That’s an interesting style,” Hearn said. “I don’t know how the two styles will mesh. They’re both incredibly skillful. Teo is really tough at times, sometimes a bit strange in terms of the way he fights. But he’s an amazing talent.”

Even if Teofimo and Shakur are roughly the same size, Teo is the larger and more suitable drill for the 140-pound division. Stevenson is forced to fight at 135 because he doesn’t have enough strength to campaign at light welterweight. Staying at 140 means Shakur will have to compete with these wolves:

Ernesto Mercado
Keshawn Davis
Gary Antoine Russell
Isaac Cruz
Subriel Mathias
Alberto Puello
Kevin Brown
Jamin Ortiz
Kenneth Sims
Richardson Hitchens

Stevenson may be able to beat some of these fighters, but more than half of them could beat him. Teofimo is among them in terms of the power and toughness he will bring to Shakur.