Shakur Stevenson predictably reacted to his heir to the throne, William Zepeda’s win over Shakur-esque clone Tevin Farmer on Saturday night by tagging him. “Food.”
(Credit: Golden Boy/Cris Esqueda)
Zepeda Cracked the Code
What we saw tonight was Zepeda easily cracking the Shakur code dominating a Tevin (33-7-1, 8 KOs), winning a split decision in ten rounds at The Venue in Riyadh, which should have been a wide victory. Zepeda launched 1087 punches and landed 527.
It was mostly power shots, and Farmer appeared to have given up in the eighth round. He had nothing left and was holding on to survive. The white flag of surrender was raised, and he basically surrendered.
Farmer was mostly trying to get Zepeda out by holding, but he was taking a lot of shots from the Mexican fighter inside. This was their game plan. Even attempts to neutralize Zepeda’s work for excessive clinching did not work for Farmer.
It was the only thing he could do to avoid being hit. If Farmer hadn’t used that negative tactic, he wouldn’t have passed the sixth round because he was outmatched on offense.
The judges gave it to Zepeda by the scores:
– 95-94 and 95-94 Zepeda
– 95-94 Farmer
Farmer just fought well enough to win the fourth when he scored a flash strike. If you look at that round, Zepeda dominated until the knockdown and then got back up and finished strong, going on to beat former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer.
Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) has his laser sights set on WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), targeting the Mayweather-style fight on February 22 at an event in Riyadh.
Those two fighters will meet next unless Shakur’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, chooses to sideline Zepeda after what he did to Farmer tonight. I don’t blame Hearn. Zepeda showed that he had no problem solving the Shakur code with his victory over the knockoff versionFarmer.
Shakur sees Zepeda as a threat
Shakur’s labeling of Zepeda as “food” makes it clear that the New Jersey native sees him as a threat. Losing to Zepeda ends Shakur’s hopes of fighting Gervonta Davis because he will be fired. First, Tank is not eager to fight a runner, and if he loses to Zepeda, then there would be no reason for him to fight.
It would take too many years for Shakur to come back from a loss to Zepeda, and it is doubtful that he can, because he already showed against Edwin De Los Santos that he does not belong at 135.
Shakur is a fish out of water and light, who lacks the power and bravery to fight in the trenches. He would have never even tried to fight Zepeda the way Farmer did tonight, standing on the front line to meet fire with fire. You can’t beat Zepeda by running. The farmer knew this. That’s why he didn’t try to run like past victims of Zepeda.
“If I had let him dictate the pace, it probably would have been too much. That’s what a lot of young fighters don’t know. When you have a guy who likes to move forward, you have to back him off because that’s the only thing they know how to do. So, we did go back,” said Tevin Farmer to DAZN after his loss to Zepeda.
Zepeda vs. Farmer Fight Stats
- Guglielmo Zepeda threw an absurd amount of punches, with 1087 thrown, connected on 527 for a connection rate of 48%.
- Farmer launched 737 with 361 landings for a connection rate of 49%.
“I think we saw the best Tevin Farmer tonight. That’s what you have to do to beat him, and it’s always been short,” said Sergio Mora of DAZN.
Eat!!
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 16, 2024
Zepeda throws punches non-stop. I’ve never fought a pressure fighter in the pros that doesn’t stop the puncher, This was fun!
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 16, 2024
