PROSPECT WATCH: ZAQUIN MOSES
Moses on the offensive against Carl Rogers, who was taken out in four.
Family lore has Wali taking Moses’ father and uncles around the neighborhood to spar as kids. The line runs strong from grandfather to grandsons, producing, in Shakur and Moses, two fighters built on the same foundation but wired to fight very differently. Moses turned pro in November 2024, debuting on the Jaron Ennis vs. Karen Chukhadzhian II card in Philadelphia with a comfortable four-round decision over Michael Ruiz. It was a curious route for a three-time national champion who beat fellow hyped prospect Curmel Moton at the 2023 nationals. Plenty of fighters with that resume would have chosen the Olympic route. Moses never considered it. “No, not at all,“ he said, when asked if he thought about staying amateur. “I felt like my style would fit better in the pros. Even my pro debut, everybody was saying how calm I was. I just felt like being a pro was more so for me.” That calmness, the thing that separates promising amateurs from professional contenders, is something Moses attributes to the company he keeps. He doesn’t chase greatness from a distance; he soaks it up at close range. “Fighters like Terence Crawford, Shakur, Keyshawn [Davis], Richardson Hitchins,” Moses said. “Seeing the way they do things, seeing them in their big moments, that shaped me to be who I am.” His grandfather frames that calmness in more technical terms. “In boxing, hands, mind and feet have to work together,” Wali said. “You have to achieve that calmness inside the ring, because anger, being too intense, can cause mistakes. It’s a way of taking your time, relaxing, and staying focused.” Ask Zaquin what he’s taken from Stevenson, and the answer isn’t about footwork. It’s an attitude toward winning. “All his world titles, he was never satisfied with none of them,” Moses said. “Some people go out there, do victory laps. Shakur was never one of those people. He’ll be right back in the gym, thinking about what’s next.
undisputed – all our goal is to become a champion.” Nearer term, the target is sharper: He fights on September 4 (after this issue went to press) in what he calls a hometown homecoming. “My short-term goal is a great performance, put on a show for myself and the fans,” he said of his spot on the undercard of a Matchroom promotion headlined by former heavyweight champ Andy Ruiz and broadcast on DAZN and TNT. “Long-term, by the end of the year, being a contender for Prospect of the Year, or winning it.” Wali sees the date as a measuring stick. “This fight will be a good stepping stone. The [opponent, Angel Contreras] throws a lot of punches. [Zaquin is] going eight rounds. We’re gonna find out a lot about him.” Balance. A key attribute not only in the ring, but in life. Ten minutes into a conversation with Zaquin Moses, and it’s abundantly clear he gets it. No coattails, just lessons. No entitlement, only aspiration. Boxing isn’t just Moses’ occupation; it’s his calling, and he treats it that way. He learns from his elders with gratitude, not expectation, taking what’s useful and making it his own. He is his own man, chasing his own dreams. It’s a balance his grandfather built in on purpose. “I established with them at an early age that when we’re in that gym, I’m your coach and your trainer,” Wali said. “Outside of the gym, I’m your grandfather.” The separation, he believes, is what keeps the bond intact. “Things can get emotional, and those are things you don’t want inside the ring. Once you learn that, the bond becomes much stronger.” Whatever comes next – Prospect of the Year, a rematch with an old rival, a title run – Moses has already made his most important case: that whatever he achieves, he will earn through determination, not simply inherit through bloodline. And whatever Zaquin becomes, it will have started the same place it did for the champion before him, on a living room floor, with a grandfather who saw it coming first.
Me locking that in, that always kept me striving.” From Crawford, he took something closer to temperament: “He’s super competitive; he don’t like to lose.” The Moton fight remains the marquee result on Moses’ amateur ledger, and he treats a rematch with the certainty of a fighter who knows where his career is headed. “We sparred a couple times beforehand,” he said of their 2023 meeting. “I can’t wait till we meet in the future. It’s gonna be a great fight down the line.” Is it inevitable? “For sure. There’s no way around it. [I’ve seen] him progressing a lot, and that’s the same thing with me. So it’s only right for us to meet.” Stylistically, Moses is careful to separate himself from the cousin he’s most often compared to. Where Stevenson has built a Hall of Fame
case on distance management and defensive precision, Moses is less risk- averse. “I feel like at times I’m more offensive,” he said. “[Shakur] be trying to get me to not think like that, but I just like beating people up. I could get overexcited beating people up. That’s really the difference between me and him.” Wali doesn’t push back on his grandson’s self-assessment so much as reframe it. “A lot of people say defense wins championships, but we take the approach that offense is defense,” the coach said. “If you’re hitting your opponent and he’s not hitting you, that takes care of the defense too.” Still, Zaquin shows an introspection rare in a fighter so young. “The first thing that comes to my mind is offense,” he conceded, “but defense is something I
for sure gotta start thinking about more.” What he believes will separate him is versatility. “I’m not just a boxer. I could pick my shots, sit down to the body,” Moses said. “I’m an all-around fighter, and a lot of people gonna see that from me.” His grandfather points to Zaquin’s gifts: “His pace, his punching power, his speed,” Wali said. “When he’s at his pace, it’s hard for anybody to stay with him.” Whether the Stevenson name is a weight or a gift is a question Wali answers without hesitation. “No pressure, as long as Zaquin remains being himself,” he said. “They were trained by the same person, but Shakur is Shakur, and Zaquin is Zaquin.” What the connection provides, in the coach’s eyes, is a standard rather than a shadow. “It gives him that person to
look up to – not to emulate, but be as good as. The one thing that they do is have each other.” After a unanimous decision over Travis Crawford in Houston this past May, Moses made a public case for more rounds and sterner tests, a step-up that comes with risk the Newark man waves off. “When competition go up, that’s when people are really going to see my bag,” he said. Nor is he content to leave that trajectory to his team. “That’s something they think about, but I think about it too. That’s what gets me in the gym, even if I don’t want to. I’mma be ready for everything.” Asked whether the goal is undisputed status or titles across divisions, Moses doesn’t pick a lane. “All of them, for sure. One belt, two belts, a different weight class,
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