Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez has confirmed that William Zepeda has suffered a right hand injury and will not be able to challenge Shakur Stevenson for his WBC lightweight belt on February 22nd.
Gomez said that they are looking for “reschedule” the Shakur fight, because that’s what Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) wants next. He beat Shakur clone Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) last Saturday night in Riyadh, and now he wants the real thing.
Zepeda has been seen walking around with a right hand brace since the fight with Farmer last Saturday night. It is not a false thing where a warrior dives. Zepeda wouldn’t wear the brace if he wasn’t injured because he’s not the type to shy away from a fight, especially against a light defensive fighter like Shakur.
“No, Zepeda suffered an injury. So, he hurt his hand. We want to reschedule it, but this is the fight Zepeda wants,” said Eric Gomez. ESNEWS about William Zepeda suffering an injury and not being able to fight Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd.
During the fight, one could see that Zepeda’s right hand was not at full strength, perhaps injured from the body shots he hit the 34-year-old Farmer with.
It is difficult to determine when the injury occurred in battle. Still, the number of strikes to the body of Zepeda seemed to increase in the second half of the fight, suggesting that he focused down after suffering the injury. It is easier for fighters to throw to the body than it is to the head when they have a hand injury.
Zepeda defeated Farmer with the scores:
– 95-94: Zepeda
– 95-95: Farmer
– 95-94: Zepeda
Farmer knocked Zepeda down with a left hand in round four, but it was a fluke and not a hurt situation. When Zepeda got back up, he continued to dish out punishment to Farmer for the rest of the round and the rest of the fight.
I had it 9-1 in Zepeda’s favor, but I factored in the body shots he landed. The judges only focused on the pot shots Farmer was calling for, and there weren’t nearly enough for him to get a 95-94 victory.
Shakur will have to fight someone else next if he wants to stay busy while he waits out Zepeda’s hand injury to the head. He should fight one of these contenders next:
Andy Cruz
Edwin Delos Santos
Floyd Schofield
Abdullah Mason
If Shakur wanted to show the world that he’s not afraid to fight any of the killers at 135, he’d fight one of those guys while he waits out Zepeda’s hand injury. But given the risk involved and the high likelihood of him putting on another performance where he gets booed out of the arena, he’s not going to stand a chance by fighting any of those guys.
