Tim Bradley was disappointed by what he saw from William Zepeda, with him leaving and struggling to defeat Tevin Farmer on Saturday night in Riyadh.
(Credit: Golden Boy/Cris Esqueda)
Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) won the fight by a split decision over 10 rounds, but was dropped in the fourth by a clean left hand that counter-puncher Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) l he struck. There was no doubt that Zepeda deserved the win as he had landed far more punches and wore down Farmer with body shots.
The judges didn’t give Zepeda credit for the body shots, so the scores were closer than they should have been. The farmer was badly outworked and overwhelmed by the body punching from Zepeda.
Bradley says Zepeda needs to change his fighting style to become more defensive and a world champion.
Zepeda is 28 years old and has fought the same way his entire professional career. He is known to average over 100 punches thrown per round, and that style made him popular.
“If your defense is garbage, you won’t last long in business, and you won’t be the champion you want to be,” said Tim Bradley on his Internet forum, reacting to William Zepeda’s victory over Tevin Farmer.
“Zepeda, go. I understand your offense is your defense, but are you getting knocked down by Farmer, who isn’t really a puncher? That says a lot about your future because they have guys fighting at 135 lbs. Muratalla, go. He beats. Keyshawn Davis, he can punch. Gervonta Davis, he’d put you in a body bag.
“De La Hoya, you have your hands full. You’re going to have to manage this guy the right way, because if he can’t outskill his opposition, I’m damn sure he can’t outskill. All the other guys I have said they have more skills.”
If Zepeda changes his style to be more of a boxer, his career will go down the drain. He and his trainers obviously know that’s why he fights the way he does. It’s the only style that can work for him, but it’s pretty effective, and it might be good enough for him to beat Shakur Stevenson.
“He has the fight, I promise you. I said this about his defense,” said Bradley.
If Zepeda changes his fighting style to be more defensive, he won’t win fights because he’s not a huge puncher. As we saw Saturday night, Farmer had more power than Zepeda, and he’s not a puncher.
The only way Zepeda gets knockouts and becomes popular is because of his volume punch. If he gets caught, he won’t go anywhere in the sport and will lose against more skilled fighters and those with superior power.
