William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) vs. Tevin Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) has received approval to have the WBC interim lightweight title at stake for their November 16th contest at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Zepeda-Farmer will be fighting on the undercard of the cruiserweight unification fight between Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Chris Billiam-Smith. The event will be shown live on DAZN.
The fight will reportedly be a 10-rounder because Farmer prefers it over the typical 12-rounder for a belt. It’s an understandable move for the 34-year-old Farmer, given that he’s coming off a grueling 10-round unanimous decision loss to slugger Raymond Muratalla on July 13th, and it would be asking a lot of himself to face the big puncher Zepeda in a 12-rounder.
Zepeda will use the former world champion Farmer as a stay-busy opponent before facing WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd. The former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer should give Zepeda a good test before he faces Shakur.
Interestingly, many fans unfamiliar with Zepeda are picking Farmer to win. However, this fight isn’t expected to go beyond the fourth round unless Farmer uses nonstop movement. Zepeda has too much power and offensive skills for the aging, light-hitting Farmer to go the distance against him.
Zepeda has been steamrolling his recent opponents, stopping these fighters:
– Giovanni Cabera: KO 3
– Maxi Hughes: RTD 4
– Mercito Gesta: TKO 6
– Jaime Arboleda: KO 2
Farmer had looked good recently, winning three consecutive fights before suffering a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Muratalla on July 13th. Farmer gave Muratalla problems in that fight with his skills but ultimately lacked the power to get the decision.
Against Zepeda, it won’t go well for Farmer because he’s a pressure fighter with an intense work rate that he’s not going to be able to deal with for long. The body punching that Zepeda does will be murderous for Farmer, who will need to stay on the move for him to keep from getting cut down.
“The William Zepeda-Tevin Farmer fight has been approved by the WBC for the interim Lightweight championship in a 10-round fight scheduled for Nov. 16. Zepeda and Farmer had signed a 10-round fight, and the latter did not want to fight at 12 rounds. Approval was requested, and I received the green light,” said Salvador Rodriguez on X.
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