Eddie Hearn says he’s been told lightweight contender William Zepeda will fight Tevin Farmer next, not George Kambosos Jr., before the tip of the 12 months.
Zepeda is reportedly fighting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, next. So, if it’s Farmer that he’s facing, they’ll receives a commission well, giving Zepeda a probability to indicate off his talent against the previous IBF super featherweight champion.
Matchroom promoter Hearn says he’d been told that Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) wouldn’t be available to fight through November because his wife was having a baby. Hearn had wanted #1 WBC Zepeda to face his recently signed fighter, lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson.
As a substitute, Hearn was forced to dig up one other opponent for Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) to fight on October twelfth, Joe Cordina, and he’s been coping with a backlash ever since. Cordina was knocked out within the eighth round last May and has never fought at 135. You couldn’t discover a worse opponent for Shakut to fight in case you tried, and Hearn stepped into it with this move.
Farmer’s Resurgence
The 34-year-old Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) is coming off a razor-close ten-round unanimous decision loss to Raymond Muratalla on July thirteenth in Las Vegas.
Going into that fight, many boxing fans felt that the heavy-handed and far younger 27-year-old Muratalla would blow Farmer out of the water based on his power. But surprisingly, Farmer outboxed Muratalla in lots of rounds, showing skills he could want to have. Farmer looked in vintage former, showing no signs of age, and back to where he was before title loss to Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz on July 30, 2020.
“We were a bit disillusioned because I talked to Shakur, Josh Duban, and the blokes today, and we were told that [William] Zepeda wouldn’t be available in October, November, or September because he was having a baby,” said Eddie Hearn to the iFL TV site about William Zepeda not being available to fight recently signed Matchroom fighter, WBC lightweight champion
Shakur’s Dodged Bullet
It’s perhaps an excellent thing that Zepeda is fighting Farmer next relatively than Shakur. Hearn might see it as a foul thing that Shakur isn’t fighting Zepeda this 12 months, but he’s not ready for this type of a high-pressure, high-volume fighter. Shakur, 27, is just too weak and may’t handle pressure well without taking off running.
“Now, we’re hearing I imagine he’s going to fight Tevin Farmer. I assumed he [Zepeda] was going to fight George Kambosos, but he’s not fighting George Kambosos. I hear it’s Tevin Farmer. We were able to go straight into that Zepeda fight, but possibly they’re not. So, we’ll see,” said Hearn.
If you happen to’re Hearn, it’s best to keep Shakur away from Zepeda until after he gets the massive payday fight against Gervonta Davis in 2025. Shakur won’t beat Zepeda without controversy. It could be an analogous fight to Shakur’s match against Edwin De Los Santos, where he hits and runs all night, and judges give him a dubious decision. Shakur can’t beat a fighter like Zepeda by trading, and he can be forced to remain on his bike to win an unpleasant decision in a boo-filled fight.
The Albatross
Hearn must let Shakur go after his two fights are up with Matchroom relatively than pouring extra money into this albatross. If Shakur can get the Tank fight in his second clash of his two-fight cope with Matchroom, that’s good.
Hearn can then wash his hands of Shakur after he loses that fight. U.S. fans don’t wish to see Shakur fighting Zepeda along with his hit-and-run style, especially if this match will likely be sold on PPV, like Stevenson’s headliner against the recently knocked-out Cordina on October twelfth. Shakur won’t stand and fight Zepeda because he’ll get obliterated inside three rounds.
