The Argument Teofimo Should Have Made About Shakur

& Shakur fought for 2 Vacant Titles! 🥶 https://t.co/c81CucGwh1

— Teofimo Lopez (@TeofimoLopez) May 29, 2026

Teofimo absolutely has a point. If he wanted to truly expose the facade, he could have gone way further than a simple tweet about vacant belts. The blueprint to critique Shakur is right there, and it is a lot more damning than just looking at how a couple of titles were acquired.

The Edwin De Los Santos fight at T-Mobile Arena is the ultimate example. Winning a world title in a performance so entirely devoid of action that the crowd is actively booing you out of the building is not exactly legendary stuff. It was historic for all the wrong reasons, setting records for the fewest punches landed in a 12-round fight.

Then you look at the William Zepeda fight. The official scorecards of 118-110 and 119-109 were pure fantasy land compared to what actually happened in that ring. Zepeda turned him into a complete human pincushion with a relentless body attack. Shakur was getting hit with heavy body shots all night long, yet the judges gave Zepeda practically zero credit for completely controlling the physical narrative of those middle rounds. It was a dogfight, but the lopsided scores made it look like a pristine masterclass on paper.

That is the real ammo Teofimo left on the table. Instead of focusing on the politics of vacant belts, he could have pointed out that Shakur’s pristine reputation relies heavily on favorable judging and a style that relies on running when the heat gets turned up.

The machinery behind Shakur has undeniably done a masterful job protecting the asset, ensuring the matchmaking and the positioning keep him insulated from a truly devastating reality check.