Next month’s fight between William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer will have the WBC interim lightweight title on the line for their 10-round clash on Latino Night on November 16 at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Salvador Rodriguez reports that the World Boxing Council award the WBC interim 135-lb belt to the Zepeda vs. approved Boer fight, which will be shown live on DAZN. Having the WBC interim title on the line for the Zepeda-Farmer fight will make it a little more interesting. Zepeda is rated #1 by all four sanctioning bodies at lightweight and is seen by many as the biggest threat to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ reign.
If Zepeda defeats Farmer and Shakur in 2025, he will come to Baltimore native Tank Davis’ Kingship, looking to take him off the mountain to take his carefully guarded throne.
Former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) didn’t want the fight to go 12 rounds, which is understandable. Farmer is a move in the Shakur Stevenson mold, and it will be easier for him to move for ten rounds.
The 34-year-old Boer doesn’t have the power, output or youth to stand and trade with the high-pressure volume puncher Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs). It will be difficult for Farmer to last even six rounds at the pace Zepeda will be sending on November 16th.
This fight is a warm-up for Zepeda before his title challenge against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd. Boer wants to derail that fight by defeating Zepeda, but his chances of doing so are slim.
It will be interesting to see how long Farmer can last using his foot speed with Shakur’s style of fighting. Giovanni Cabrera and Maxi Hughes tried to make moves against Zepeda, but were recently caught and stopped by the Mexican fighter. These two are younger fighters than Farmer and fight at a higher level than him. He will have to rediscover his lost youth in order to stand a chance against Zepeda.
Shakur will investigate Zepeda’s fight. He knows this is by far the toughest fight of his career that he faces in February. A knockout loss to Zepeda would permanently ruin Shakur’s dream of fighting Gervonta Davis for mega-millions, and promoter Eddie Hearn is unlikely to seek to extend his contract with Matchroom after his current two-fight deal expires .
Hearn has visions of Shakur being transformed into a global superstar, but Zepeda is able to bring him down to earth and shatter that dream. He’s not going to retain the New Jersey native if he gets blown out of the water by Zepeda and is stuck with a fighter who is routinely booed in his fights in the US
It’s safe to say Hearn will give Shakur the bum’s rush if Zepeda wipes him out because he won’t want to keep him on board and pay him big money for fewer fights. He’s not someone Hearn can afford to do an expensive four-fight rebuild like he did with Anthony Joshua.
