By Adam Baskin: Oscar De La Hoya says he wants to put together a colossal card on Super Bowl weekend next February, with Ryan Garcia challenging WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson facing William Zepeda.
The Golden Boy Promotions CEO De La Hoya is in talks with Top Rank boss Bob Arum to assemble the Teofimo-Ryan & Shakur-Zepeda event for what he feels would be a massive PPV event.
For the 26-year-old WBO 140-lb champion Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs), this is as good as it gets because he can make excellent money in a fight that he’d be a huge favorite over Ryan Garcia.
If Teofimo says no to this fight or prices himself out, he would be stuck with the more risky option of facing the winner of the Devin Haney vs. Regis Prograis contest. That’s probably a smaller money fight for Teofimo and one that he could lose.
Will Shakur agree to the undercard slot?
Getting Shakur Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) on the card could be problematic, though, because he’s not someone that would come cheap, especially if he successfully captures the vacant WBC lightweight title against Edwin De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KOs) next month on November 16th.
Shakur would not only want a lot of money to fight on the Teofimo vs. Garcia card, but he might balk at the idea of not being the headline attraction. Stevenson may not realize it yet, but he’s not a big enough draw for him to be placed ahead of Teofimo-Ryan on a card.
Stevenson’s style is more suited to Mayweather fans, who enjoy watching the fencing, hit-and-run approach that he uses. Most fans prefer to see fighters that mix it up and make it interesting, which is why Teofimo would headline.
The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Stevenson would need to humble himself to take second billing, and that’s not realistic. Moreover, fighting a pressure fighter like William Zepeda (29-0, 25 KOs) would be a nightmare for Shakur because the Mexican fighter would be kryptonite for his pull-back style of fighting.
PPV numbers would be tremendous
Dan Rafael: “I’ve heard you talking about a Super Bowl weekend type of fight with Teofimo Lopez defending the world title against Ryan. That’s a huge fight,” said Rafael on his podcast. “It’s one thing to talk about it and another thing to put it into action.
“Your events are with DAZN, and Bob [Arum of Top Rank] has an agreement with ESPN. It is possible to work together, as we have seen in recent times. How realistic is that match?”
Oscar De La Hoya: “It’s very, very realistic. As I said, Ryan Garcia, even though he lost to Tank Davis, Ryan has a fight with Oscar Duarte on December 2nd. Oscar is still kind of the [rainmaker] there at 140 without a title because Ryan Garcia is the one that sells.
“Anyone there will make the most money possible. Fighters like Devin Haney, Teofimo & Prograis, and anyone at 140 will make sense. The Super Bowl of boxing, we can do something like that.
“Bob Arum promotes Shakur Stevenson, and he can match him up with our guy William Zepeda, for instance, which would be a terrific fight. We can do Ryan against Teofimo on the same card. When I’m talking about the Super Bowl of boxing, I’m talking about the big picture here with the Sphere opening [in Las Vegas]. Imagine that pay-per-view. The numbers would be astronomical.”
Bob Arum would likely go for De La Hoya’s idea for the Teofimo vs. Garcia card, but trying to negotiate it could be a problem.
Teo might not be easy to hammer a deal with because he’s coming off a win over former undisputed 140-lb champion Josh Taylor last June, and that victory may have planted ideas into his head, making him think he’s worth unreal money.
Can Teofimo-Ryan & Shakur-Zepeda happen?
Rafael: “I’m never one to say never, but if you can somehow make a fight card where you have Ryan Garcia challenging Teofimo for the [WBO light welterweight] world title and Shakur Stevenson, which would theoretically be a defense of the [WBC] lightweight title, which he’s in line to win if he’s victorious in a few weeks [against Edwin De Los Santos on November 16th] and then match him up against Zepeda on the same card, I will tip my hat to everyone involved.”
It would be great for Shakur Stevenson’s career to be on the same card as Teofimo vs. Ryan Garcia, but it’s doubtful that he would agree.
Just like Shakur turned down a chance to fight for the undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney due to pride, we could see him do the same thing when offered the chance to fight on the undercard of Teofimo-Garcia.
Unfortunately, Shakur’s pride had the potential to hurt his career if he didn’t wake up and come to his senses that he must take advantage of these opportunities.
De La Hoya: “Plus, I would like to match Jaime Munguia against somebody like [Edgar] Berlanga, where Matchroom Boxing is involved. So this is what I’m talking about: where we should be working together. There’s a lot of money in the pot. There’s a lot of money to be shared with.
“These are events we must think about and think outside the box and make them happen.”
