In today’s announced Latino Night in Riyadh season, William Zepeda will face former super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer in a ten round fight on November 16th at The Venue in Riyadh.
The two fighters will battle on the undercard of the cruiserweight unification bout between champions Chris Billian Smith and Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.
Zepeda is taking heat from boxing fans on social media for not fighting WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on October 12. Apparently he couldn’t take the fight with Shakur because his wife had a baby, but he fights Farmer just a month later on November 16th. Fans see this move as a duck by Zepeda.
If Zepeda is not interested in fighting Shakur, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn will have to make other plans for February 2025, the month he had hoped to make the Shakur-Zepeda fight.
Interestingly, Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) and Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) are not the main support matchup on the card. Golden Boy saved that slot for a fight between former WBC and WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (29-1, 18 KOs) and Arnold Barboza Jr. (30-0, 11 KOs).
Zepeda appears to have more potential in his career than the 32-year-old Ramirez, who has done very little since losing his two titles to Josh Taylor via a 12-round unanimous decision three years ago on May 22, 2021.
Ramirez has fought three times since then, beating the faded Jose Pedraza, Richard Commey, 37, and Rances Barthelemy. It doesn’t look like Ramirez will be able to hold another belt before he retires as he isn’t moving his career along the path an aging former champion should after losing their titles.
Light welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr. is set to fight Irish fighter Sean McComb in a rematch to end the controversy surrounding his 10-round split decision victory earlier this year on April 20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. too finished Many boxing fans had McComb win that fight and felt it was a robbery.
Complete card
– Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez vs Chris Billam-Smith
– Jose Ramirez vs. Arnold Barboza
– William Zepeda vs. Tevin Farmer
– Oscar Collazo vs. Edwin Hernandez
– Oscar Duarte vs. Kenneth Sims Jr
