Teofimo Lopez-Shakur Stevenson is both a high-quality match-up and a fight between two of the biggest names in the world in 2026.
Raymond Muratalla’s recent victory over Andy Cruz was a similarly high-quality match-up, but one that lacked crossover appeal. Lopez-Stevenson will draw a bigger audience, even if it ends up being as tactical as many expect.
Lopez already has two defining victories – over Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor. Stevenson, who’s often struggled to get the right opponents and has been avoided, is still seeking his – and Lopez would fit.
Stevenson has deserved a big fight for a long time, and should be given credit for his willingness to move up from lightweight to junior welterweight to secure it. I regardless also think that even if he wins on Saturday we could see him move back to 135lbs.
Both of these fighters could well be at their physical peaks. There’s no questioning their abilities, but Lopez hasn’t seemed the same fighter, psychologically, since the second half of his victory over Lomachenko in 2020. Even if the victory over Taylor three years later was impressive, Taylor also lost his following two fights and then retired, so it perhaps wasn’t as impressive as it first appeared.
Lopez is an explosive, athletic, naturally talented, dynamic fighter who can create openings out of nothing. He hasn’t been as devastating in his more recent fights as he was earlier in his career, but he retains the explosiveness that means he can hurt his opponent at any point. His IQ’s also capable of matching anyone he shares the ring with.
But he’s unpredictable and inconsistent. He’s too often too capable of fighting at the level of his opposition – by the standards of his abilities there are times that he can look awful. He’s been at his best when he’s been matched with his most dangerous opponents – Lomachenko and Taylor – and for that reason I expect him to be at his best on Saturday night.
If he is, Stevenson’s going to have to work to earn victory. But it’s also relevant that Lopez has typically looked his best against aggressive, come-forward opponents, and while – like Lomachenko and Taylor – Stevenson is a southpaw, he can be expected to remain on the back foot, and his being a southpaw provides no guarantees. Between those two victories Lopez also fought Sandor Martin, another southpaw, and one who made him look bad.
Stevenson, in 2026, may well be a better fighter than Lomachenko was in 2020, which means that Saturday’s fight is coming against the best opponent both of them will have faced. He’s consistent, he has one of the best boxing IQs in the world, and he’s capable of controlling the space and the distance and the ring to the extent that his opponents end up fighting his fight whether they want to or not. He knows exactly how to win by disarming his opposition, and once he does so he makes victory simple. He’s such a master at figuring out how to win a fight and then execute what’s required to do so that the only weakness he has is his hands.
What can make Saturday’s fight particularly interesting is that while Stevenson’s a master at controlling distance, Lopez is so explosive that he might be capable of closing the gap between them in a way that surprises Stevenson, even if it’s something that to some degree he will expect. Lopez came out fast against Lomachenko – if he shows a similar level of hunger and ambition he’ll start aggressively again, which means that we’ll know early on which version of Lopez has showed up. If he controls the ring and attempts to be aggressive and make Stevenson uncomfortable – Stevenson’s at his best when he’s comfortable – Stevenson will have to be at his best. If he doesn’t, Stevenson can expect an easy night – and it’s also likely we’ll never see the best version of Lopez again.
The aggressive, explosive Lopez might still struggle to catch Stevenson cleanly, but he could well catch him and make him uncomfortable and threaten Stevenson’s attempts to control the distance. Stevenson showed against William Zepeda in July that he’s capable of responding when he’s pressured and of being drawn into a more physical fight – the question is whether Lopez, who’s more explosive than Zepeda, can succeed in doing so, because not only would making Stevenson fight more than he wants present him with more opportunities to hurt him, there would also be an increased chance of Stevenson again hurting his hands.
Stevenson’s never previously fought above lightweight. If Lopez can hurt him it’ll become more difficult for him to learn to negate Lopez, but even if it becomes a physical fight, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Lopez will win. If it does, Stevenson would still have to be favoured to work his way back into the fight, but he would have to overcome some doubt in his mind and maybe even take risks that would suit Lopez. Either way – particularly so if Lopez doesn’t start with sufficient intent – Stevenson should be the favourite to win on points.
On the undercard at Madison Square Garden, Keyshawn Davis fights Jamaine Ortiz. Davis has been out for a over a year, but he’s a special fighter when he’s focused. If he dominates Ortiz, a good fighter, he’ll have been the first one to do so. Ortiz will recognise Davis’ inactivity as an opportunity to transform his career so he’ll be hungry and can out-hustle Davis if Davis doesn’t perform as he can.
