Next month’s fight between William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer will have the interim WBC lightweight title on the line for their 10-round clash at Latino Night on November 16 at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Salvador Rodriguez reports that the World Boxing Council has approved the WBC 135-lb interim belt for the Zepeda vs. Farmer fight, which will be shown live on DAZN. Having the interim WBC title on the line for the Zepeda-Farmer fight makes it a little more interesting. Zepeda is ranked #1 by all four sanctioning bodies at lightweight and is seen by many as the biggest threat to the reign of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
If Zepeda defeats Farmer and Shakur in 2025, he will come for the Kingship of Baltimore native Tank Davis, trying to knock him off the mountain to take his carefully protected throne.
The former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) did not want the fight to be a 12-rounder, which is understandable. Farmer is a mover in the mold of Shakur Stevenson, and it will be easier for him to move for ten rounds.
The 34-year-old farmer doesn’t possess the power, production, or youth to stay and trade with the high-pressure volume puncher Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs). It will be difficult for Farmer to last even six laps at the pace that Zepeda will set on November 16.
This fight is a warmup for Zepeda before his title challenge against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd. The farmer wants to announce that fight by defeating Zepeda, but his chances of doing that are slim.
It will be interesting to see how long Farmer can last using his foot speed with Shakur’s fighting style. Giovanni Cabrera and Maxi Hughes tried to move against Zepeda, but were recently trapped and stopped by the Mexican warrior. Those two are younger fighters than Farmer and fight at a higher level than him. He will need to regain his lost youth in order to have a chance against Zepeda.
Shakur will discover Zepeda’s struggle. He knows this is by far the toughest fight of his career to deal with in February. A knockout loss to Zepeda would permanently ruin Shakur’s dream of fighting Gervonta Davis for mega-millions, and it would be unlikely that promoter Eddie Hearn would try to extend his contract with Matchroom after his current two-fight deal expires.
Hearn has visions of Shakur turning into a global superstar, but Zepeda could bring him down to earth, shattering that dream. It won’t hold the New Jersey native if he is blown out of the water by Zepeda and stays with a fighter who is regularly choked in his fights in the United States.
It’s safe to say that Hearn will give Shakur the bum’s rush if Zepeda takes him out because he won’t want to keep him on board and have to pay a lot of money for lesser fights. He is not someone that Hearn can afford to do an expensive four-fight rebuilding job like he did with Anthony Joshua.
