This weekend is a fantastic one if you’re a boxing fan. There are several cards around the world on Saturday, culminating in an event headlined by a massive WBO junior welterweight title fight between champion Teofimo Lopez Jr. and WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson.
The action will roll into Sunday, with Zuffa Boxing 02, the second edition of TKO’s foray into the boxing world, which will stream live on Paramount+.
With so many different fights set for the weekend, we had to zoom our focus in on those two events to identify the storylines most worth keeping an eye on.
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Let’s get into it.
Lopez vs. Stevenson is an incredibly important fight
One doesn’t have to go back too far to remember the crop of exciting fighters in the lower weight classes who were set to take over the sport. Stevenson and Lopez were among that group, along with fighters like Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney. Boxing, operating as it so often does, produced very few matchups between those fighters as the years have ticked by. Davis seems as though he may be done with boxing, as the number of domestic violence allegations against the fighter has continued to pile up. Garcia lost to Davis and then defeated Haney, but Garcia didn’t bother to make weight against Haney and failed multiple drug tests, resulting in the bout being officially overturned to a no contest as Garcia was seemingly in the deepest throes of a mental health crisis.
While Lopez has displayed some of his own issues, including repeatedly claiming to be retired only to reverse course shortly after, he and Stevenson are both 28 years old and at the peak of their powers. Lopez has put in some disappointing performances against mid-tier opponents in his career, but he is a fighter who tends to fight to the level of his opposition and he’ll have to be at his best against Stevenson.
Likewise, Stevenson has had some terrible moments in his career. Even when handily winning fights, Stevenson has been booed for being extremely risk-averse. His 2023 fight with Edwin De Los Santos was a miserable affair, and the following year Stevenson saw fans leave the arena early despite facing Artem Harutyunyan in Stevenson’s native New Jersey. Stevenson proved a major point in his most recent outing, standing toe-to-toe with William Zepeda and punishing the challenger across 12 rounds.
Now, two elite 28-year-old fighters will face the biggest tests of their careers with the chance to further erase any lingering negative narratives and move themselves closer to the top of the pound-for-pound rankings. It doesn’t get much bigger than this.
Adames and Williams meet to claim power in a wide-open middleweight division
Throughout boxing history, middleweight has been one of the sport’s glamour divisions. That has not been the case in recent years. Janibek Alimkhanuly is the current top man at 160 pounds, holding both the IBF and WBO titles. Adames and Erislandy Lara are right behind, holding the WBA and IBF titles, respectively. Adames didn’t further his status in the division in his most recent fight, a February 2025 draw with Hamzah Sheeraz, despite many observers feeling Adames deserved the decision.
Williams’ lone career loss came in his own fight with Sheeraz, a June 2024 TKO in Round 11. Since that loss, “Ammo” has rattled off three consecutive wins, including a solid victory over Patrice Volny.
In a division as wide-open as middleweight, this is a pivotal fight that sets the winner up in a power position moving forward, whether it’s simply defending the WBA belt or seeking to unify the title with one of the other champions. In boxing, fighters have to take advantage of every opportunity to acquire power.
Zuffa Boxing 02 looks to build the brand with an intriguing main event
The first edition of Zuffa Boxing showed flashes of what things could look like moving forward for the brand. The Meta APEX had expanded seating that put the crowd on top of the action, but outside of the main card opener between Julian Rodriguez and Cain Sandoval, the action didn’t really bring that atmosphere into play.
On Sunday, Zuffa Boxing 02 features a former world champion in the main event, with former WBA junior welterweight champion Jose Valenzuela taking on Diego Torres. Valenzuela has had a very uneven career once he rose to title contention. Despite being a -750 favorite against Edwin De Los Santos in 2022, Valenzuela was knocked out in the third round of a shootout that saw both men hit the canvas. Valenzuela then lost to Chris Colbert by a very controversial decision before knocking Colbert out in the rematch. That set Valenzuela up for the biggest fight of his career, a split decision win over Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz to capture the WBA title. Despite a brilliant and measured performance against Cruz, Valenzuela looked out of sorts in his first title defense, losing a wide decision — and the title — to Gary Antuanne Russell.
Torres has only fought outside of his native Mexico once in his career, picking up the only loss of his career against Raymond Muratalla in 2023. That loss has aged well, as Muratalla is now IBF lightweight champion. Torres has stopped his opponent in 19 of his 22 career victories.
Valenzuela is in a strange place in his career, picking up the best win of his career and turning in a dismal performance one fight later. If he’s on his game, Torres is exactly the kind of fighter Valenzuela usually handles comfortably, as shown by his status as a -650 favorite. However, Torres is the kind of tough Mexican power puncher who can upend things if Valenzuela isn’t locked in.
Serhii Bohachuk vs. Radzhab Butaev could steal the show on Sunday
During the build to Zuffa Boxing 01, I was telling everyone within earshot that Rodriguez vs. Sandoval would steal the show. Those two men did just that with a gusty brawl that showcased both men’s toughness and skills. Heading into the second edition of Zuffa Boxing, the fight between Bohachuk and Butaev is poised to fill that role.
Both men are solid action fighters, and both have come up short in thrilling fights. In August 2024, Bohachuk dropped rising superstar Vergil Ortiz Jr. twice en route to a narrow majority decision loss. Butaev’s lone loss came in a hard-fought battle with Eimantas Stanionis in 2022. In 42 combined victories, Bohachuk and Butaev have 36 stoppage victories.
This middleweight bout has the potential to deliver in a big way when Bohachuk and Butaev share the ring on Sunday.
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