William Zepeda needs six to eight weeks of rest to allow his injured left hand to heal before he can begin training. Lightweight contender Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) will not need surgery to fix the problem, which is positive news for him and his promoters at Golden Boy.
Hand injury delays Title Fight
Zepeda, 28, had been scheduled to challenge Shakur Stevenson for his WBC lightweight title on Feb. 22 on the Riyadh Season card. He was replaced by 14th WBC Floyd Schofield as Stevenson’s challenger for that event. Shakur is expected to win that fight. He and Zepeda will probably meet in the middle of the year 2025 for his WBC lightweight belt.
The undefeated #1 contender with all four bantamweight lightweights injured his left hand in his 10-round split decision victory over former IBF super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer on November 16 in Riyadh.
The punch of Zepeda’s volume was too much for the 34-year-old Farmer in his fight, and the match seemed wilder than the narrow scores that the judges returned. They seemed to focus on head shots, which Farmer was mostly landing while ignoring body shots from the judges. Zepeda.
“Camaron” Zepeda connected 90 body shots compared to 45 for Farmer, and seemed to use in the last three rounds, seven to ten. Had it been a 12-round contest, many believe Zepeda would have defeated Farmer.
The Scores
– 95-94: Zepeda
– 95-94: Farmer
– 95-94: Zepeda
Farmer scored a flash Knockdown in the fourth round, catching “Camaron” with a left hand when he was in the process of throwing one of his hard punches. Zepeda got up and continued to dominate the rounds and make it look easy.
Body punching from Zepeda wore down Farmer in the second half, reducing his work rate and power on his punches.
Zepeda-Farmer Punch Stats
– Farmer: 194 of 587 for 32.9%
– Zepeda: 259 of 778 for 33.3%.
“William Zepeda will have to wait 6-8 weeks to return to the gym after the injury he suffered in his fight against Tevin Farmer. Surgery will not be necessary. Shakur Stevenson will defend against Floyd Schofield,” said Salvador Rodriguez X.
