William Zepeda weighed in at the lightweight limit at 135 pounds, and Giovanni Cabrera came in at 137 lbs on Friday at their weigh-in for their 12-round headliner this Saturday, July 6th, at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The event starts at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT, live on DAZN.
(Credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs) is ranked #1 with all four sanctioning bodies at 135 and will get a good test by Cabrera (22-1, 7 KOs) on Saturday. Cabrera has got the boxing skills to nullify the offensive punch output of Zepeda and potentially pull off an upset.
“I see a machine. He’s a fighter who throws more punches in one round than many fighters do the whole fight,” said promoter De La Hoya to Golden Boy Promotions about William Zepeda.
De La Hoya has mentioned wanting to match Zepeda against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson. However, it’s unclear how serious De La Hoya is about making that fight because it would be risky for Zepeda and a big step up.
“He has an exciting style. He’s ranked #1 in all of the organizations. So, he’s ready to face all the world champions, but he has a really tough fight in front of him,” said De La Hoya.
Zepeda does have an entertaining fighting style. He throws 100+ punches power round and grinds down his opponents. He has recent wins over Maxi Hughes, Joseph Diaz, Mercito Gesta, Rene Alvarado, and Jaime Arboleda.
“Cabrera is a fighter who has really close, controversial decision loss to [Isaac] Pitbull [Cruz]. We all saw it. He’s a great fighter. So, he’s really got his hands full on Saturday,” said De La Hoya.
“He’s easy to work with, and he has one mission to be a world champion,” said De La Hoya about Zepeda. “I think guys like Shakur Stevenson and Tank Davis, I think everyone in the division must fight each other. That’s the way they’re going to become the very best.
“William Zepeda wants to be the best. He wants to fight the very best, but first things first. I think Cabrera is a difficult style and a very dangerous opponent. I think he’s going to have his hands full, and I think we’re going to see a William Zepeda that is a machine,” said De La Hoya.
If De La Hoya believes in Zepeda, he’ll get him a title shot soon rather than waiting because his style has been set for years, and he’s wasting time. At 28, Zepeda needs to challenge one of the champions to take advantage of his youth.
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