William Zepeda takes on former world champion Tevin Farmer in an important showdown at “Latino Night” on November 16 in Riyadh. This is the preparation for the #1 lightweight contender to prepare to challenge Shakur Stevenson for his WBC title in 2025.
Farmer thinks he has a real chance against Zepeda, but that’s written all over it. This will be more similar to Zepeda’s recent KO wins over Mercito Gesta and Maxi Hughes. Farmer lacks the youth, power and offensive skills to keep Zepeda.
Stevenson-Zepeda could happen in February, but it might not. Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is coming off a hand injury. It will be up to his new promoter, Eddie Hearn, to decide if he needs to do a tune-up before doing the fight with Zepeda (31-0, 27 KO).
If Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) destroys the 34-year-old farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) as he did his last two opponents, Giovanni Cabrera and Maxi Hughes, Shakur may choose to take a melody- up. He won’t want to face a risky fight against Zepeda and ruin his chances for a mega-payday against Gervonta Davis next year. That’s the fight Shakur has been chasing and the likely reason Hearn signed him.
Zepeda vs. Farmer will fight on the undercard of Gilberto Ramirez vs. Chris Billiam-Smith at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Zepeda vs. Farmer seems to be more preparation for the biggest fights in the lightweight division,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Probox TVdiscussing the November 16 bout between William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer.
“You have Farmer, who is a former world champion, an experienced and cunning veteran. He is a good fighter. I wouldn’t say he has much, but he has enough to show us where Zepeda is.
In a weight class where the top two dogs, Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson, are both very good southpaw fighters and champions, I think Tevin Farmer, being a faded ex-world champion, who was also a smart southpaw.
“It’s a good matchup in terms of showing us exactly how we can continue to evaluate Zepeda in this weight class. I don’t necessarily think he’s going to fight Shakur Stevenson early next year. I just think it’s trash talk boxing,” Malignaggi said.
Paulie is right. If Shakur fights Zepeda, it will be at the end of next year, and this is still the WBC champion until then. If Shakur does Tank in his next fight or after a tune-up, he will lose the title, and there will be no need for a dangerous fight against Zepeda.
“Boxing likes to give out blue balls, and this will be the next blue balls on the horizon for boxing. Maybe we’ll have Zepeda and Shakur by the end of next year. I doubt we’ll have them by the beginning of the year next, but I’d like to be wrong for once,” said Malignaggi.
Shakur seems confident that he will beat Zepeda in February, and is not interested in taking a tune-up. However, Shakur’s promoter, Hearn, may have reconsidered doing this fight later if Zepeda obliterates Farmer.
Hearn didn’t sign Shakur to an expensive two-fight deal only to have him beat before the payoff bout against Tank Davis. All you have to do is look at how Hearn hired Edgar Berlanga after signing him a year ago.
It took Berlanga along with a couple of tomato guys from the UK, Jason Quigley and Padraig McCrory, to make him look good before he sets up with the big money fight against Canelo Alvarez. He was outmatched in that fight, looking like he didn’t belong in the ring with Canelo. Hearn will likely do the same with Shakur. Pair it with a soft touch in February before doing the unification matchup against Tank.
