Shakur Stevenson’s championship win at junior welterweight means he no longer has his world title at lightweight.
Stevenson dominated Teofimo Lopez this past weekend to capture the WBO title and the lineal and Ring Magazine championships at 140lbs, making him a four-division titleholder after reigns at 126, 130 and 135.
Stevenson entered the Lopez bout as the WBC lightweight titleholder, and he’d said that he had not decided whether he would remain at junior welterweight or return to 135 to defend there.
But the WBC’s latest downloadable monthly ratings update, released on February 3, shows the WBC lightweight title as vacant. As of February 4, so does the lightweight ratings section on WBC's website.
Meanwhile, interim titleholder Jadier Herrera, who won that vacant secondary belt in January with a stoppage of Ricardo Nunez, has not been upgraded.
Nunez had previously been rated No. 1 by the WBC at 135lbs while Herrera was No. 3. The results of their match left a vacancy, and that allowed William Zepeda to move up from No. 2 to No. 1.
Zepeda has been in this position before, dating back to fall 2024, before he beat Tevin Farmer in their first fight to win the WBC’s interim belt. Zepeda went on to beat Farmer in their rematch and then lost a clear decision to Stevenson last July.
Zepeda is followed in the WBC’s ratings at 135lbs by Lamont Roach Jnr, Andy Cruz, Dzmitry Asanau, Sam Noakes, Justin Pauldo, Nunez, Joe Cordina, Shu Utsuki, Bakhodur Usmonov, Lucas Bahdi, Jordan White, Alan Abel Chaves, Armando Rabi and Albert Bell.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
