William Zepeda faces former world champion Tevin Farmer in an important test on “Latino Night’ on November 16th in Riyadh. This is preparation for the #1 ranked lightweight contender to get him ready to challenge Shakur Stevenson for his WBC title in 2025.
Farmer thinks he’s got a real chance against Zepeda, but this has mismatch written all over it. This is going to be more like Zepeda’s recent knockout wins over Mercito Gesta and Maxi Hughes. Farmer lacks the youth, power, and offensive skills to hold Zepeda off.
Stevenson-Zepeda could happen in February, but it might not. Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is coming off a hand injury. It’ll be up to his new promoter, Eddie Hearn, to decide if he wants to have him take a tune-up first before making the fight with Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs).
If Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) destroys the 34-year-old Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) as he did his last two opponents, Giovanni Cabrera and Maxi Hughes, Shakur may choose to take a tune-up. He won’t want to rush into a risky fight against Zepeda and mess up his chances for a mega-payday against Gervonta Davis next year. That’s the fight that Shakur has been chasing and the likely reason Hearn signed him.
Zepeda vs. Farmer will be fighting on the undercard of Gilberto Ramirez vs. Chris Billiam-Smith at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Zepeda vs. Farmer seems like it’s more preparation for the bigger fights in the lightweight division,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Probox TV, discussing the November 16th clash between William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer.
“You’ve got Farmer, who is an ex-world champion, a savvy, crafty veteran. He’s a good fighter. I wouldn’t say he’s got a lot left, but he’s got enough to show us where Zepeda is at.
In a weight class where the top two dogs, Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson, are both very good southpaw fighters and champions, I think Tevin Farmer, being a faded ex-world champion, who was also a crafty southpaw.
“It’s a good matchup in terms of showing us exactly how we can keep gauging Zepeda in this weight class. I don’t necessarily think he’s going to fight Shakur Stevenson early next year. I just think that’s boxing trash talk,” said Malignaggi.
Paulie is right. If Shakur does fight Zepeda, it’ll be at the end of next year, and that’s if he’s still the WBC champion by then. If Shakur faces Tank in his next fight or after a tune-up, he’ll lose the title, and there will be no need for a dangerous fight against Zepeda.
“Boxing loves giving you blue balls, and that’s going to be the next blue balls on the horizon for boxing. Maybe we’ll get Zepeda and Shakur late next year. I doubt we’ll get it early next year, but I would love to be wrong for once,” said Malignaggi.
Shakur seems confident that he’ll beat Zepeda in February, and he’s not interested in taking a tune-up. However, Shakur’s promoter, Hearn, may have second thoughts about making this fight next if Zepeda obliterates Farmer.
Hearn didn’t sign Shakur to an expensive two-fight deal just to have him get beaten before the payoff clash against Tank Davis. All you have to do is look at how Hearn matched Edgar Berlanga after he signed him a year ago.
He put Berlanga in with a couple of tomato cans from the UK, Jason Quigley and Padraig McCrory, to make him look good before setting him up with the big-money fight against Canelo Alvarez. He was overmatched in that fight, looking like he didn’t belong in the ring with Canelo. Hearn will likely do the same with Shakur. Match him against a soft touch in February before making the unification clash against Tank.
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