Tim Bradley was disappointed in what he saw from William Zepeda, with him being dropped and struggling to defeat Tevin Farmer last Saturday night in Riyadh.
(Credit: Golden Boy/Cris Esqueda)
Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) won the fight with a 10-round split decision, but was dropped in the fourth by a clean left hand from counterpuncher Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs). have. There was no doubt that Zepeda deserved the win as he landed far more punches and wore down Farmer with body shots.
The judges didn’t give Zepeda credit for the body shots, so the scores were closer than they should have been. Boer was badly worked out and overwhelmed by the body blow of Zepeda.
Bradley says Zepeda needs to change his fighting style to become more defensive and a world champion.
Zepeda is 28 years old and has fought the same way his entire professional career. He is known to have averaged over 100 punches per round, and that style made him popular.
“If your defense is messed up, you’re not going to last long in the business, and you’re not going to be that champion that you want to be,” Tim Bradley said on his Internet forum, reacting to William Zepeda’s win over Tevin Farmer.
“Zepeda, come on. I understand your offense is your defense, but you get knocked down by Boer, who isn’t really a puncher? That says a lot about your future because they have guys bumping at 135 lbs. Muratalla, come on. He stomps. Keyshawn Davis, he can punch. Gervonta Davis, he would have put you in a body bag.
“De La Hoya, you have your hands full. You’ll have to manage this man the right way, because if he can’t outrun his opposition, I’m damn sure he can’t outrun him. All the other guys I just mentioned have more skills.”
If Zepeda changes his style to be more of a boxer, his career will be in jeopardy. He and his trainers obviously know this and that’s why he fights the way he does. It’s the only style that can work for him, but it’s pretty effective, and he might be a good enough one for him to beat Shakur Stevenson.
“He’s going to struggle, I promise you. I’ve said that about his defense,” says Bradley.
If Zepeda changes his fighting style to be more defensive minded, he won’t win fights because he’s not a big puncher. As we saw last Saturday night, Farmer had more power than Zepeda, and he’s not a puncher.
The only way Zepeda gets knockouts and gains popularity is through his volume punch. If you take that away, he’s not going to go anywhere in the sport and will lose to the better skilled fighters and those with superior power.
