The undefeated no. 1 lightweight contender William Zepeda will have his warm-up fight against Tevin Farmer at 17 Days on November 16 on Latin night at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is a dry run for the talented Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) before he faces the real thing, the WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevensonon February 22.
Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) has a similar style to Shakur, but isn’t as shy about running around the ring after the first flash of danger. Former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer is more willing to stay in the pocket and throw punches than Shakur, who has no heart for the one-on-one pocket fight that Zepeda specializes in.
Can the farmer keep Zepeda off?
Tevin Farmer’s streak was snapped in his last fight, losing to highly ranked Raymond Muratalla by a ten round unanimous decision on July 13th. Farmer exposed the undefeated Muratalla in that contest, making him look beaten with his boxing skills.
However, it will be a different story when Farmer takes on Zepeda because he is a very different type of fighter with an inside game, power and high work rate that makes him impossible to stop. He is the perfect fighter to defeat a pure boxer like Farmer and Shakur.
Zepeda has looked exceptional lately, knocking out Giovanni Cabrera, Maxi Hughes and Mercito Gesta early in those fights. What was impressive about those games was how Zepeda started slowly and then came like a train in the second half of the second round.
Once Zepeda ramps up his offense, he is unstoppable, and his opponents fight for survival. That’s what we’re likely to see from the 34-year-old Farmer, who has never fought like this before during his 13-year professional career.
Fighting a guy like Zepeda at this late stage will be a real problem for Farmer because he won’t be able to run. The Mexican talent is excellent at cutting the ring on its prey.
Farmer said Zepeda won’t make it to the Shakur fight because he plans to fight him on Nov. 16, but that sounds like wishful thinking. Zepeda will be like glue, stick to him inside, throw to the body, and make life difficult for him.
Fans are waiting to see Zepeda face Shakur because the match is shown on PPV and has a lot of attention.
This will be Shakur’s first fight of his two-fight contract with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, and has been set up for a unification match against Gervonta Davis in mid-2025. Shakur lacks offense or inside game to fight Zepeda.
Then, he would use the same hit-and-run style in his dubious 12-round victory over Edwin De Los Santos last November.
Shakur ran away from De Los Santos, landed almost nothing, and the judge still gave him rounds. We may see the same approach of Shakur against Zepeda, but it will be more extreme because the Mexican star’s offensive skills and work rate are superior to De Los Santos.
