Tito Mercado predicts that Stevenson will easily beat Lopez
Tito Mercado explained that Shakur Stevenson is the type of boxer who gives Lopez problems because he moves around the ring a lot
Ernesto 'Tito' Mercado predicted that Shakur Stevenson will easily beat Teofimo Lopez and take the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title from him on January 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
In an interview with The Ring, Tito Mercado explained that Stevenson is the type of "I think Shakur will win simply because we've seen that Teofimo struggles against boxers and guys who move around the ring. It's not his specialty. When guys get close to Teofimo, that's when he knows how to connect and counter. But attacking isn't his strength, so I think Shakur should be able to beat him fairly easily," he said. "Any southpaw or fighter who moves around, like Jamal Ortiz, Sandor Martin, to name a few, made him look terrible. And all they did was move around the ring. Obviously, they didn't throw enough punches to win the fight. But a guy like Shakur, who knows his range, I think he can pull it off," he added. Shakur Stevenson will move up to 140 pounds to try to win his fourth title in a different weight class, while Teofimo Lopez hopes to emerge victorious and then... challenge Terence Crawford.
According to experts, the fight could be low-scoring due to the fighting style of both fighters, but Stevenson emerges as the favorite to win the contest.
In his last appearance in the ring, the undefeated Stevenson defended his World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight championship by defeating William 'Camaron' Zepeda by unanimous decision and will now seek to be crowned in a fourth weight division.
Meanwhile, Lopez has a six-fight winning streak and also retained his WBO super lightweight title by defeating Arnold Barboza Jr. by unanimous decision last May.
Shakur Stevenson, 26, again defended his WBC undisputed lightweight championship in a great fight against Zepeda. The American has a record of 23 wins, 11 by knockout,and no losses.
For his part, Teofimo Lopez, 27, defended his super lightweight title and will put it on the line again in January. The American of Honduran descent has a record of 22 wins (13 by knockout) and one loss in his professional career.