Jay Najar believes Zepeda became hesitant after seeing Stevenson’s speed and ring IQ but says the loss provided valuable lessons ahead of the Lamont Roach fight
William Zepeda’s trainer, Jay “Panda” Najar, believes his fighter abandoned the intended strategy against Shakur Stevenson after being surprised by the unbeaten champion’s speed and ring IQ. Najar said Zepeda could have given Stevenson a more difficult fight had he stayed committed to the original game plan.
“I believe that if William would have just thrown a little more punches instead of waiting, he was surprised by the velocity and the IQ of Shakur,” said Najar to Fight Hub TV. “I think it was more on William’s side, being surprised on having a fighter like that in front of him. It kind of tamed William to throw punches.”
Najar feels the surprise factor prevented Zepeda from fighting with his usual aggression against Stevenson.
“I think if William would have went out and just followed the game plan, he probably would have had a better fight or put Shakur in trouble or even hurt Shakur at times,” said Najar.
While giving Stevenson credit for the victory, Najar said there were no excuses for the loss.
“At the end of the day, we faced a great fighter. There’s no excuses. Anything I think we could have done would have not made a difference in that fight. You’re facing probably a future Hall of Famer in Shakur. He’s an incredibly smart fighter,” said Najar.
Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) returns on August 1 when he faces Lamont Roach Jr. for the vacant WBC lightweight title at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The winner could move into position for a future unification fight in the lightweight division.
The 30-year-old Zepeda said he used the time away from the ring to work on areas he felt were lacking in the Shakur fight, including explosiveness, counterpunching, punch consistency, and head movement. The Mexican contender also said the layoff was planned after several years of staying active against quality opposition.
