William Zepeda will be given a good test by Tevin Farmer that he must pass and look good this Saturday night to move forward to challenge Shakur Stevenson for his WBC lightweight title next February.
Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) is supposed to be a close approximation to the type of style that Shakur uses, but that’s not the reality. He fights nothing like Shakur but is slick and can make Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) look bad, just like he did Raymond Muratalla earlier this year on July 13th.
Zepeda likely won’t be as confused by Farmer’s style as Muratalla was because he’s less of a body puncher. Farmer’s specialty is to make his opponents miss when they’re targeting his head, but he’s wide open to the body, which is where Zepeda will be aiming.
Farmer = Pernell Whitaker Clone
“The conventional wisdom is this is a Shakur-esque style of opponent, which is not true,” said Chris Algieri to Probox TV about Tevin Farmer NOT being a Shakur Stevenson clone for William Zepeda to practice on this Saturday night.
“Tevin is a Pernell Whitaker type where he stands right in front of you. He gets real low, and changes angles. He’ll push you off, spin you, grab you, and turn you. Tevin is tricky. He’ll put you in an uncomfortable space and make you miss and make you look silly.”
Farmer has a Whitaker-like element to his game, but he’s nowhere near as tricky as that fighter was during the best years of his career. He’s not easy to hit, and Zepeda is going to have to cut off the ring to land his shots.
Zepeda doesn’t possess the same lethal straight right power punch that Muratalla was throwing and missing Farmer with all night last July. But he has a high work rate, averaging 100+ punches per round when he can get to hit opponents to throw.
“Zepeda has fought a bunch of these banana peel-type guys back to back and blows them out. He runs right through them. Maxi Hughes is another one,” said Algieri.
The fighters that Algieri is alluding to are these guys:
– Maxi Hughes
– Giovanni Cabrera
– Mercito Gesta
Farmer Can Be Spoiler
“Tevin is a spoiler, but the intensity that Zepeda fights at is probably enough to get him by in this fight,” said Paulie Malignaggi. “The thing about Farmer is he still has enough skill and enough know-how in the ring to where we can see a little bit more deficiency in Zepeda.”
We’ve already seen the flaws in Zepeda’s game in terms of his lack of hand speed, and his punching power not being extraordinary for the lightweight division. But what he lacks in speed and power, he makes up for with his volume punching and body shots.
“I don’t think Zepeda gets through this fight in flying colors. I think stylistically, there are things that will bother Zepeda in this fight, but he’s got to get used to fighting this kind of uncomfortable athletic styles. Pretty much the champions, Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson, they fight in athletic styles,” said Malignaggi.
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