William Zepeda needed to dig deep to get past Tevin Farmer, but that didn’t shake his confidence in his readiness to face Shakur Stevenson next.
Mexico’s Zepeda, 32-0 (27 KOs), edged out Philadelphia’s Farmer, 33-7-1 (8 KOs), in a close split decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday night. Judges scored the bout 95-94, 94-95 and 95-94 in favor of Zepeda, earning him an interim lightweight title.
The 28-year-old Zepeda now becomes the mandatory challenger to Stevenson, who holds the original WBC belt. Zepeda says he is ready to take the Stevenson fight.
“We’re waiting with confidence to receive that offer, that firm offer for the opportunity, and we’ll take that opportunity, obviously,” Zepeda told DAZN after the fight. “Since I’ve been in this position, I’ve mentioned that we’ve been waiting for the opportunity.
“We’re just waiting for the time and the place to get that done. Now it’s about going back and resting with my family, with my newly born son and then speaking to my team after that.”
Zepeda endured a knockdown in Round 4 against Farmer, but he came back strong to win a very close contest. The win over Farmer – a former junior lightweight – makes it three victories this year for Zepeda, perhaps the three biggest of his career.
He praised Farmer for a good show and vowed to come back even stronger in 2025.
“We always knew it was gonna be a really tough fight, a strong fight,” Zepeda said. “We know that Farmer is really experienced. He’s a really good fighter. I think what it shows is that there’s lots of things that I have to perfect going forward, but I’m happy with my performance tonight.”
Zepeda admitted to adjusting in the fight to accommodate Farmer’s fighting style. He also noted that the shot that took him to the canvas came as a surprise.
“I think what he did, he tried to smother it to close me down and not allow me to feel comfortable there,” he said. “So we did try to get that body work in there, but we’re happy that with the rhythm we got to, in the end, that gave us the victory.
“I think during that fight, that shot when it came in, it surprised me a little bit. Maybe not my confidence a little bit, but what I had to do was draw on my experience to get me through that, and I’m going to win the fight.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].
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