Tevin Farmer was dressed in Saudi clothing today for the final press conference to let Golden Boy, Matchroom, and the media tell him about his fight against lightweight contender William Zepeda on Saturday night.
The farmer took issue with the discussion of Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) facing WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson next in a 5 v 5 card on February 22. He is not taken seriously because his skills do not fit the lightweight division.
The former IBF super-featherweight champion Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) feels that they have in front of them, “putting the cart before the horse” above him, and says that he has to “delete the plans “
You can understand why the Shakur vs. Zepeda fight was planned, though, because it would create a lot of interest. Also, Farmer, 34, doesn’t look like the same fighter he once was since moving up to 130.
Farmer and Shakur are strangers to the lightweight division, and their skills don’t match up. They don’t have the right tools to beat natural heavyweights like Zepeda and Tank. On Saturday, Farmer found out that out, and in February, Shakur would meet his fate against Zepeda.
The farmer irritated by being counted out
Like Shakur, who suffers from the same problem, Farmer doesn’t have the power to dominate at 135 like he did at super featherweight, and he has to rely on his defense.
It’s not enough to win at the highest levels in the lightweight division, and Shakur could still find out when he goes up against Zepeda or Gervonta Davis. You have to have a balance between offense and defense to exist with the sharks at 135.
Guglielmo Zepeda: “I’m really motivated for this fight. My preparation has been great. I’ll show you on Saturday what the Mexican taste is.
Tevin Farmer: “Saturday night, it’s going to be a show nobody wants to miss. They say William Zepeda is one of the best in the 135 lb division, which I agree with, but you can’t be top dog unless you beat a top dog
“Saturday night, he has his hands full with Tevin Farmer. It’s crazy as I look at social media and look around. I see Golden Boy and Eddie Hearn promoting this 5 v 5 with Zepeda vs. Shakur. I see this kind of crazy when you have a guy like Tevin Farmer in front of him.
“As they say, ‘Never put the cart before the horse.’ I think it’s a bad move because once I beat him on Saturday, I don’t know what they’re going to have for Shakur. I’m not signed to Golden Boy, and I’m not signed to Eddie. Let’s leave it here.
“November 16th, tune in. Your boy, Tevin Farmer, is back, shooting for a two-time world champion. Like I said, I’m going to show you how to do it in the USA.”
Tevin Lacks Physical Tools To Win
The farmer would be taken more seriously if he was not coming off a loss in his last fight against Raymond Muratalla on July 13, and Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz did not beat him in 2020. Zepeda defeated easily Diaz by a 12-round decision. in October 2022, and will probably beat Muratalla.
In Farmer’s last fight against Raymond Muratalla, he connected 109 of 446 punches for 24.4%. Muratalla was limited to 106 of 481 shots for 22%. The reason for the low percentages was due to Farmer’s defense. He shut down Muratalla’s offense, making mistakes with his power shots. By doing so, Farmer ruined his chances of winning by not connecting with enough shots.
We could see the same problem for Farmer on Saturday night against Zepeda if he focuses too much on defense and not enough on offense. He has the same problem that Shakur Stevenson has. It’s all defense and no offense, counting on the judges to score rounds based on making their opponents miss rather than landing punches.
