William Zepeda faces test against Tevin Farmer

William Zepeda takes on former world champion Tevin Farmer in a key test on “Latino Night” on November 16 in Riyadh. This is preparation for the No. 1 ranked lightweight contender as he prepares to challenge Shakur Stevenson for his WBC title in 2025.

Farmer thinks he has a real chance against Zepeda, but that’s written all over it. It’s going to be more like Zepeda’s recent knockout wins over Mercito Gesta and Maxi Hughes. Boer lacks the youth, strength and attacking skills to keep Zepeda off.

Stevenson-Zepeda could happen in February, but it might not. Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is coming off a hand injury. It will be up to his new promoter, Eddie Hearn, to decide if he wants to get him drafted before taking on Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs).

If Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) destroys the 34-year-old Boer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) as he has 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 ruin his chances for a mega payday against Gervonta Davis next year. That’s the fight Shakur was chasing and the likely reason Hearn signed him.

Zepeda vs. Farmer will be on the undercard of Gilberto Ramirez vs. Chris Billiam-Smith at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“Zepeda vs. Farmer looks like it’s more preparation for the bigger fights in the lightweight division,” said Paulie Malignaggi. Probox TVdiscussing the November 16th clash between William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer.

“You have Farmer, who is a former world champion, a skilled, smart veteran. He is a good fighter. I wouldn’t say he has much left, but he has enough to show us where Zepeda is.

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 former world champion, who was also a smart southpaw.

“It’s a good matchup in terms of showing us exactly how we can continue to match Zepeda in this weight class. I don’t necessarily think he’s going to fight Shakur Stevenson early next year. I just think it’s boxing rubbish,” Malignaggi said.

Paulie is right. If Shakur does fight Zepeda, it will 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 rematch, he will lose the title, and there will be no need for a dangerous fight against Zepeda.

“Boxing loves to give you blue balls, and these are going to be the next blue balls on the horizon for boxing. Maybe we get Zepeda and Shakur late next year. I doubt we’ll get it early next year, but I’d love to be wrong for once,” Malignaggi said.

Shakur seems confident he’ll beat Zepeda in February, and he’s not interested in doing 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 beat before the pay-per-view clash against Tank Davis. All you have to do is look at how Hearn matched up with Edgar Berlanga after signing him a year ago.

He put Berlanga in with some tomato cans from the UK, Jason Quigley and Padraig McCrory, to make him look good before setting him up in the big money fight against Canelo Alvarez. He was outmatched in that fight, looking like he didn’t belong in the ring with Canelo. Hearn will likely do the same with Shakur. Match him up against a soft touch in February before making the unification clash against Tank.