William Zepeda posted on Instagram today that he injured his left hand during his fight with Tevin Farmer last Saturday night and was advised by doctors to “6 to 8 weeks of rest” to recover before returning to the gym.
That injury will keep #1 contender Zepeda on the shelf until early 2025. At that point, he and his promoters at Golden Boy could look for one of the lightweight champions for him to challenge. With Zepeda’s rankings with the four sanctioning bodies, he has his pick of which champion to challenge.
Undefeated lightweight contender Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) was tipped as the next challenger for WBC 135-lb champion Shakur Stevenson for February 22 in Riyadh. Unfortunately, this is not possible due to the injury.
Doctor’s orders
“After our last game (Tevin Farmer) we left with an injury to our left hand. We prepared to return to the gym soon, but for medical evaluation, they recommended 6 to 8 weeks of rest for better recovery. For us it is important to have this little break to benefit our career; we know that big opportunities are coming in 2025, and we have to be 100%. After this recovery period, we would like to return at the end of March,” William Zepeda continued Instagram today.
Shakur is upset about losing the Zepeda fight, but that’s fine with him. Chances are he would lose to Zepeda, what with his high 100+ punch per round outputis on a different level than the low-out Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs). Zepeda is a throwback fighter from the 1980s, another one Aaron Pryor type of high-output fighter.
Pryor was more of an arm puncher in the Artur Beterbiev mold. Zepeda throws with power and never stops throwing, making him one of the most entertaining fighters in the sport and easily the most fun to watch in the 135-lb division.
Casual fans have probably never seen or heard of Pryor, but the ultra-hardcore fans know about him, and he had a high work rate, just like Zepeda. Pryor’s fights against Alexis Arguello were legendary, and Zepeda fights the same way, but he’s more of a body puncher.
Title shot postponed
Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions, confirmed last Saturday night that Zepeda (28) was injured and could not fight Shakur. He says Zepeda still wants that fight, but he can’t take it now.
Shakur’s fans are upset about Zepeda suffering an injury, but that’s just the way it goes. He fought Tevin Farmer last Saturday, and he threw a lot of punches, many of them connecting. When a fighter takes as many hard hits as Zepeda did in that fight, hand injuries happen.
Zepeda-Farmer Punch Statistics
– William Zepeda: 259 of 778 punches for a 33.3% connection rate
– Tevin Farmer: 193 of 587 for 32.9%.
When Zepeda returns from injury, he could face WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. His tentatively scheduled title defense against Lamont Roach Jr. is March 1. If not moved again, Tank can get it out of the way and then start negotiating for a fight with Zepeda.
