Eddie Hearn says he doesn’t believe Shakur Stevenson’s size disadvantage against Teofimo Lopez will prevent him from defeating him in a possible January 2026 fight.
Hearn believes Shakur’s skills will allow him to handle WBO welterweight champion Lopez’s size.
Shakur Pushes
“We talked about Teofimo Lopez’s size. He’s not a huge 140, but he’s still a decent sized 140,” promoter Eddie Hearn told Brian Custer canal. “I told Shakur [Stevenson] – You’ll be the smaller guy in this fight. – No, I won’t. I said, “You will.”
Shakur may not be the smaller guy, but he will have plenty to contribute in the power department. This counts as much as providing your size. Lopez, 5’9″, has a one-inch height advantage over Shakur’s 5’8″ and a half-inch reach advantage.
“I said, ‘I don’t think it’s necessarily going to affect anything. I think you’re going to win this fight. That’s when it starts to become a real challenge when you’re fighting a bigger guy,'” Hearn said of his conversation with Shakur Stevenson, who is a smaller fighter at 140 pounds.
Teofimo’s size reduction will most likely impact Shakur as he is used to being a bigger fighter with a longer reach. In his fight with Lopez, Shakur will be facing a guy his size but with much more power. Therefore, he cannot escape from fighting with his back to the ropes for 12 rounds, as he did in his last fight against William Zepeda on May 2, 2025.
Teo made for this division
“It’s an captivating combination of styles. I don’t know how it will combine, those two styles. They’re both incredibly skillful. Teo is really tricky at times, and sometimes a little weird with the way he fights. But he’s got incredible talent,” Hearn said.
Even though Teofimo and Shakur are about the same height, Teo is a much bigger puncher and is a better fit for the 140-pound weight class. Stevenson is forced to fight at 135 pounds because he doesn’t have enough power to fight at welterweight. Staying at 140 would mean Shakur would have to compete with these wolves:
Ernesto Mercado
Keyshawn Davis
Gary Antuanne Russell
Isaac Cruz
Subriel Mathias
Albert Puello
Kevin Brown
Jamaine Ortiz
Kenneth Sims
Richardson Hitchins
Stevenson might have been able to beat some of these fighters, but it’s possible that more than half beat him. Teofimo is one of them in terms of the power and difficulty he will bring to Shakur.
Tom Galm has been energetic on the global boxing scene since 2014, specializing in heavyweight analysis, business trends and fighter psychology.