Other than himself, Ernesto “Tito” Mercado considers Teofimo Lopez the best junior welterweight in boxing.

The emerging power puncher nonetheless expects Shakur Stevenson to beat The Ring and WBO 140-pound champion “fairly easy” when they fight for those titles in the main event of "The Ring 6" on January 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Mercado (18-0, 17 KOs), who beat Antonio Moran by sixth-round knockout Saturday night, watched Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz trouble Lopez from southpaw stances and recognizes the left-handed Stevenson is on another level than those two fighters.

“I think Shakur will win,” Mercado told The Ring, “just cuz we seen that Teofimo has a hard time with boxers and guys that move around the ring. That’s something that’s not really his specialty. When dudes come forward to Teofimo, that’s when he kinda knows how to engage and counter. But coming forward, that’s not his strong suit, so I think Shakur should be able to beat him fairly easy.”

Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs) – a Newark, New Jersey native who owns the WBC lightweight title – has moved up five pounds for his shot at Lopez’s championships next month. He dominated powerful Mexican southpaw William Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) in his last fight – an entertaining, thorough, 12-round points win July 12 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

That impressive victory moved Stevenson into the eighth spot on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list. The right-handed Lopez, though a Ring champion for 2½ years, isn’t ranked among its top 10 pound-for-pound.

While accomplished, Lopez’s inconsistency convinced Mercado that the former unified lightweight champion won’t defeat Stevenson.

Martin dropped the Brooklyn-born Lopez in the second round and should’ve been credited with another knockdown in the seventh round of a 10-rounder Lopez won by split decision in December 2022 at Madison Square Garden. Fourteen months later, Ortiz tested Lopez, who won a 12-round unanimous decision in February 2024 at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.

“Every southpaw or guy that moves around – Jamaine Ortiz, Sandor Martin, just to name a few – those guys made him look terrible,” Mercado said. “And all they did was just move around the ring. Obviously, they ain’t throw enough punches to win the fight. But a guy like Shakur, who knows his distance, I think he’ll be able to pull it off.”

That said, Mercado respects what the 28-year-old Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) has done during his eight-year professional career. His two most noteworthy wins, unanimous points victories versus Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor, separate him in Mercado’s mind from fellow 140-pound champions Richardson Hitchins (IBF), Subriel Matias (WBC) and Gary Antuanne Russell (WBA).

“It’s kinda hard, man, because a lotta these guys have on and off nights,” Mercado said. “So, I would probably say, just based on resume, you’ve gotta give it to Teofimo Lopez. That’s what I think, just based off his wins. I mean, nobody else really has any wins that are credible like him in the division.”

The 24-year-old Mercado dropped Mexico’s Moran (31-8-1, 21 KOs) once in the first round and twice in the sixth on the Diego Pacheco-Kevin Lele Sadjo undercard at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California. The rising contender from Pomona, California has won seven consecutive bouts by knockout.