William Zepeda says his opponent Giovanni Cabrera is fearless with “nothing to lose” in their 12-round lightweight clash this Saturday, July 6th, at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The fight will be shown on DAZN. Cabrera, 29, wants to push pace and try to outwork Zepeda. That’s not going to be easy.
(Credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs) is continuing his journey to a world title shot and is facing a difficult test in his Cabrera (22-1, 7 KOs), who brings a better set of skills than the fighters he’s been facing lately.
Golden Boy wants to get a title shot for Zepeda, but it’s unclear whether they’re going to target WBC 135-lb champion Shakur Stevenson because we’ve seen how he fights.
#9 WBC Cabrera has the skills to make things difficult for Zepeda on Saturday night if he’s unable to deal with his boxing. He came close to defeating Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz last year and barely lost a twelve-round split decision in July.
“I was signed to Golden Boy. That was a dream of mine. Start being in the big cards, and start being in the big fights. It’s been hard work to get there, but little by little, we been getting there,” said William Zepeda to Golden Boy Promotions.
It’s taken Zepeda nine years to get to this point in his career where he’s close to getting a title shot. He can’t afford to wait too much longer because he’ll be too old if he waits until his 30s.
“I think he’s had a lot of fights, and he’s been taken care of very well,” said Giovanni Cabrera about William Zepeda. “They’ve moved him along really well, and 30 fights being as good as he is, that’s impressive.
“A lot of Mexican fighters, they get put through the fire like that. I’m going to push the pace. A lot of people are worried about his punch output. I’m going to break the record. My career had a very tough start,” said Cabrera. “I fought seven undefeated fighters. I got up to 18-0 before I got with Freddie [Roach].”
It sounds like Cabrera had it tough early on, and wasn’t babied the way former blue-chip amateur stars are. He might not have been viewed as someone who would rise high in the sport.
“I won three straight fights on ESPN, and then the Pitbull fight, and now I had another fight, and I’m ready to face another dangerous high-volume puncher, a fighter like William Zepeda.
“What Giovanni Cabrera does that makes him a dangerous opponent is he’s not afraid,” said Zepeda. “He comes very motivated. He’s coming to give it his all. He’s coming with a nothing to lose, everything to gain attitude, but that’s what makes him dangerous.
“Apart from his boxing skills, he’s a strong fighter,” said Zepeda.
Unlike Zepeda’s recent opponents, Cabrera is still young, and he will be a problem if he can’t get to him to wear him down with volume. Surprisingly, Cabrera wants to match his volume because he’s not shown in his past fights that he can throw a lot of punches. He’s been working on that in camp so that he might surprise Zepeda.
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