Tevin Farmer was dressed in Saudi garb today for the final press conference to allow Golden Boy, Matchroom and the media to count him out for his fight against lightweight contender William Zepeda on Saturday night.
Farmer took the fight to talk of Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) facing WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson next in a 5 v 5 card on February 22. He is not taken seriously because his skills do not fit the lightweight division.
Former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) feels they got ahead of themselves, “putting the cart before the horse” by looking over him, and he says he’s going to “spoil the plans.” “
However, you can understand why the Shakur vs. Zepeda fight is planned because it will generate a lot of interest. Plus, Farmer, 34, doesn’t look like the same fighter he once was since moving up to 130.
Farmer and Shakur are strangers to the lightweight division, and their skill sets don’t match up. They don’t have the right tools to beat natural lightweights like Zepeda and Tank. On Saturday, Farmer will find out, and in February, Shakur will meet his fate against Zepeda.
Farmer annoyed at being counted out
Like Shakur, who suffers from the same problem, Farmer doesn’t have the power to dominate at 135 like he did at super featherweight, and he has to rely on his defense.
It’s not enough to win at the highest levels at lightweight, and Shakur could find that out when he comes in against Zepeda or Gervonta Davis. You have to have a balance between offense and defense to coexist with the sharks at 135.
William Zepeda: “I’m really motivated for this fight. My preparation was great. I’ll show you what the Mexican flavor is on Saturday.
Tevin Boer: “Saturday night it’s going to be a show no one wants to miss. They say William Zepeda is one of the best in the 135-lb division, which I agree with, but you can’t be a top dog unless you beat a top dog.
“Saturday night he has his hands full with Tevin Farmer. It’s crazy how I used to look at social media and look all over there. I see Golden Boy and Eddie Hearn promoting this 5 v 5 with Zepeda vs. Shakur. I see that kind of crazy when you have a guy like Tevin Farmer in front of him.
“As they said: ‘You never put the cart before the horse. I think it’s a bad move because once I beat him on Saturday, I don’t know what they’re going to have for Shakur. I’m not signed to Golden Boy, and I’m not signed to Eddie. We’re going to leave it there.
“November 16, tune in. Your boy, Tevin Farmer, is back and gunning for a two-time world champion. Like I said, I’m going to show you how the US does it.”
Tevin doesn’t have the physical tools to win
Farmer would be taken more seriously if he didn’t lose in his last fight to Raymond Muratalla on July 13, and Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz hasn’t beaten him in 2020. Zepeda easily defeated Diaz via a 12-round decision in October 2022, and he would likely beat Muratalla.
In Farmer’s last fight against Raymond Muratalla, he connected on 109 of 446 punches for 24.4%. Muratalla was limited to 106 of 481 shots for 22%. The reason for the low percentages was because of Farmer’s defense. He shut down Muratalla’s offense, making him miss with his power shots. In doing so, Farmer ruined his chances of winning by not connecting with enough shots.
We could see the same problem for Farmer on Saturday night against Zepeda if he focuses too much on defense and not enough on offense. He has the same problem that Shakur Stevenson has. He is all defense and no offense, relying on the judges to score rounds based on making his opponents miss rather than landing punches.
