William Zepeda needs to rest for six to eight weeks to allow his injured left hand to heal before he can begin training. The lightweight contender Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) won’t need surgery to repair the problem, which is positive news for him and his promoters at Golden Boy.
Hand Injury Delays Title Shot
Zepeda, 28, had planned to challenge Shakur Stevenson for his WBC lightweight title on February 22nd in the Riyadh Season card. He’s been replaced by #14 WBC Floyd Schofield as Stevenson’s challenger for that event. Shakur is expected to win that fight. He and Zepeda will likely meet in midyear 2025 for his WBC lightweight belt.
The unbeaten #1 contender with all four sanctioning bodies at lightweight injured his left hand in his 10-round split decision victory over former IBF super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer on November 16th in Riyadh.
Zepeda’s volume punching was too much for the 34-year-old Farmer in their fight, and the match appeared wilder than the close scores the judges turned in. They seemed to focus on headshots, which Farmer was mostly landing while ignoring the body shots from Zepeda.
‘Camaron’ Zepeda connected on 90 body shots compared to 45 for Farmer, and he had the former IBF 130-lb champion looking worn out in the final three rounds. Had it been a 12-round contest, many believe Zepeda would have knocked out Farmer.
The Scores
– 95-94: Zepeda
– 95-94: Farmer
– 95-94: Zepeda
Farmer scored a flash Knockdown in round four, catching ‘Camaron’ with a left hand when he was in the process of throwing one of his hard punches. Zepeda got up and continued dominating the rounds and making it look easy.
The body punching from Zepeda wore Farmer down in the second half, reducing his work rate and his power on his shots.
Zepeda-Farmer Punch Stats
– Farmer: 194 of 587 for 32.9%
– Zepeda: 259 of 778 for 33.3%.
“William Zepeda will have to wait 6-8 weeks to return to the gym after the injury he sustained in his fight against Tevin Farmer. Surgery will not be necessary. Shakur Stevenson will defend against Floyd Schofield,” said Salvador Rodriguez on X.
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