Tim Bradley thinks highly ranked lightweight contender William Zepeda could lose to Tevin Farmer next month in their ten-round fight on ‘Latino Night’ on November 16th at The Venue in Riyadh.
The 34-year-old Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) is a crafty former IBF super featherweight champion who is coming off a competitive ten-round unanimous decision loss to Raymond Muratalla on July 13th in Paradise, Nevada.
WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson is expected to be next for Zepeda if he’s victorious against Farmer and looks good in doing so. If he loses, then that fight is off the table.
Zepeda has looked impressive recently, scoring knockouts against these fighters:
– Giovanni Cabrera
– Maxi Hughes
– Mercito Gesta
– Jaime Arboleda
I would favor Hughes and Cabrera over Farmer. Those guys would be a big problem for him in his career. Commentator Bradley believes Farmer has enough at this point in his 13-year career to possibly defeat Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs). I disagree with that.
This is going to be another demolition job for Zepeda that might be over by the fourth unless Farmer moves nonstop. That’s not how Farmer fights.
That would be a big blow to the Golden Boy-promoted Zepeda’s career because he’s ranked #1 by all four sanctioning bodies at lightweight and poised to challenge WBC champion Shakur Stevenson next February.
“If Zepeda can blow away Farmer, it’s a super statement because I don’t think Farmer is just showing up for a payday. Farmer is still showing up to win. It’s how he’s built and the character he has. He’s not spineless, and when he shows up in the ring, he shows up to win,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Probox TV, talking about William Zepeda’s fight against Tevin Farmer on the November 16th ‘Latino Night’ in Riyadh.
Before Farmer’s loss to the highly hyped Raymond Muratalla last July, he’d won three consecutive wins since losing to Joseph Diaz in 2020. Farmer is still in his prime. But his problem is he’s fighting outside his natural weight class and against a big puncher in Zepeda.
“I like this fight because it can show us any deficiencies in Zepeda’s style. Yeah, he’s a two-fisted destroyer, but can he be more against a guy with the craftiness and character of Tevin Farmer? That’s why this fight is really interesting,” said Malignaggi.
Farmer will make Zepeda look bad at times in the early going, but once he gets warmed up by the third, this is going to end soon after. Farmer won’t be able to take the shots that Zepeda is heating him with without falling apart.
“You expect Zepeda to win because Farmer is on the other side of his prime,” said Malignaggi. “But you don’t expect it to be as much of a walk-through as Zepeda has been doing to these other guys.
“If he is able to blow right through Farmer like he’s been doing against these other guys, then it makes it more of a profound statement. He’s pounding on the door for a title shot. He’s the mandatory in all four [sanctioning bodies]. So a title shot should be around the corner soon,” said Malignaggi about Zepeda.
“This could backfire. I know what Golden Boy is trying to do, but Farmer is tricky,” said Tim Bradley, who thinks Zepeda could lose. “This dude could win this fight. I could see it.”
There’s nothing that Farmer has that will keep Zepeda from walking him down and chopping him apart in this fight early. Farmer is too weak to fight at lightweight against a puncher like Zepeda.
“Zepeda is the kind of shrimp [Mantis] that kills you. I saw it on one of the National Geographic specials,” said Malignaggi, talking about Zepeda’s nickname, ‘Camaron.’ “Zepeda is one of those kinds of shrimps. He’s a striker. I’m not big on science, but there’s a shrimp that is straight death [Mantis Shrimp]. I’m talking about a shrimp where you die. Zepeda is that kind of shrimp.”
Zepeda shouldn’t have any problems with the 34-year-old Farmer, but it’s going to take a few rounds for him to get warmed up before he starts unloading on him with combinations.
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