William Zepeda will fight on March 29th in Cancun, Mexico, but not against Tevin Farmer in a rematch as previously reported. Lightweight contender Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) is recovering from a hand injury and will face an opponent yet to be determined.
No. 1 ranked 135lb contender Zepeda injured his left hand in his 10-round split decision victory over Farmer during Turki Al-Sheikh’s Latino Night event in Riyadh on November 16. William’s injury prevented him from challenging WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson for his title on the February 22 card.
There is no Farmer rematch
If Zepeda challenges Shakur in the summer, he needs an opponent to prepare him for his elusive style. The farmer is not suitable for this because he stays in his pocket and watches the wars.
“I just asked and they told me that Farmer will not be a rival in March,” said Salvador Rodriguez on X about William Zepeda’s next fight in March. “Williamzepeda2, WBC interim champion, would return on March 29 in Cancun.”
This news will not make Farmer happy. He was hoping to get a rematch with Zepeda and still believes he deserved to win their fight last November. I watched the fight and had it 9-1 for Zepeda. The body shots he landed in each round more than made up for the small number of head shots Farmer connected with.
The judges seemed to focus only on the headshots and, for some reason, ignored the bodywork. They should have recorded body shots, but in this fight it didn’t seem like they did. Zepeda still did more than enough to win by clear decision.
If Zepeda is going to take on Shakur in the summer, he’ll need someone with a similar style. It’s a shame that Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela is no longer fighting at lightweight because he would be perfect.
There aren’t many lightweights who can help prepare Zepeda for Shakur. Andy Cruz would be good, but it’s a very risky fight for Zepeda because he’s arguably more talented than Shakur and has much better offensive skills.
