A former world champion has backed Shakur Stevenson to stop Teofimo Lopez when they clash this week, despite the Newark man moving up in weight and only having a 45% KO ratio.
Reigning WBO super-lightweight champion Lopez will make the fourth defence of his crown against Stevenson at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday night.
Stevenson will make his first ring appearance since he pulled off a career-best performance over Mexico’s William Zepeda at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York last July, the third successful defence of his WBC lightweight title.
Lopez’s last ring appearance came back in May of 2025 when he comprehensively defeated mandatory challenger Arnold Barboza Jr via unanimous decision at the conclusion of their bout in Times Square.
Speaking to Fight Hub, former WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis confidently backs his friend and training partner Stevenson to potentially stop Lopez.
“I think Shakur got a good possibility of stopping Teofimo … Because of how dominant he been in this camp, because his focus level. He just took it a lot serious. Not saying he didn’t in his other camps, but he just took this fight a lot serious and he got a good chance of stopping Teo.”
Stevenson has actually received criticism for his ability to hurt his opponents throughout his career to date, with 11 of his 24 victories coming inside of the scheduled distance.
The 28-year-old’s last stoppage win came in February of 2025 when he beat Britain’s Josh Padley — a fight week replacement opponent — in the 9th round of their clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
