William Zepeda posted on Instagram today that he injured his left hand during his fight with Tevin Farmer last Saturday night and has been advised by doctors to take “6 to 8 weeks of rest” to recover before returning to the gym.
That injury will keep #1 ranked contender Zepeda on the shelf until early 2025. At that point, he and his promoters at Golden Boy can look for one of the lightweight champions for him to challenge. With Zepeda’s rankings with the four sanctioning bodies, he has his pick of which champion to challenge.
Unbeaten lightweight contender Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) had been considered the next challenger for WBC 135-lb champion Shakur Stevenson for February 22nd in Riyadh. Unfortunately, that’s not possible because of the injury.
Doctor’s Orders
“After our last match [Tevin Farmer], we left with an injury to our left hand. We were preparing to return to the gym soon, but for medical evaluation, they recommended 6 to 8 weeks of rest for better recovery. For us, it is important to have this small break to benefit our career; we know that in 2025, great opportunities are coming, and we have to be 100%. After this recovery period, we would like to return at the end of March,” said William Zepeda on Instagram today.
Shakur is upset about losing out on the Zepeda fight, but it’s good for him. The chances are high that he would lose to Zepeda, who, with his high 100+ punch per round output, is on another level than the low-out Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs). Zepeda is a throwback fighter from the 1980s, another Aaron Pryor type of high-output fighter.
Pryor was more of an arm puncher in the Artur Beterbiev mold. Zepeda throws with power and never stops throwing, which is why he’s one of the most entertaining fighters in the sport and easily the most enjoyable to watch in the 135-lb division.
Casual fans likely have never seen or heard of Pryor, but the ultra-hardcore fans know of him, and he had a high work rate, just like Zepeda. Pryor’s fights against Alexis Arguello were a legend, and Zepeda fights the same way, but he’s more of a body puncher.
Title Shot Postponed
Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez confirmed last Saturday night that Zepeda, 28, was injured and couldn’t take the fight with Shakur. He says Zepeda still wants that fight, but he can’t take it now.
Shakur’s fans are upset about Zepeda suffering an injury, but that’s just how it goes. He fought Tevin Farmer last Saturday, and he threw a massive amount of punches, many of them connecting. When a fighter lands as many hard punches as Zepeda did in that fight, hand injuries happen.
Zepeda-Farmer Punch stats
– William Zepeda: 259 of 778 punches for a 33.3% connect rate
– Tevin Farmer: 193 of 587 for 32.9%.
When Zepeda returns from his injury, he can look toward WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. His tentatively scheduled title defense against Lamont Roach Jr. is March 1st. If it doesn’t get moved again, Tank can get that out of the way and then begin negotiations for a fight with Zepeda.
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