William Zepeda remained in position for a WBC lightweight title shot against Shakur Stevenson with a majority-decision victory over Tevin Farmer in a rematch Saturday in Cancun, Mexico.
One judge scored the 135-pound contest 114-114 but was overruled by 116-112 and 115-113 tallies in favor of Zepeda.
The win is Zepeda’s second victory over Farmer, who scored a knockdown in their November meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that was scheduled for 10 rounds. The rematch, however, was staged in Zepeda’s home country over 12 rounds.
“I didn’t take this fight because I beat him [the first time], I took this fight because it was a test,” Zepeda, 28, said in translated remarks. “I knew he was difficult the first time and he was even more difficult this time. And I thank him for giving me the opportunity and I’m very grateful we had 22 rounds.”
Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) dominated the action over the first five rounds behind his southpaw jab, relentless pressure and body attack. He was on the verge of stopping Farmer, a former 130-pound champion, in Round 5 as he unloaded body punches with no answers from him.
The referee moved in and was about to stop the fight when Farmer (33-8-1, 8 KOs) finally uncorked a few uppercuts to end the round. Despite suffering an apparent left hand injury in Round 1, Farmer, a southpaw, continued to land with that left uppercut in Round 6, his best frame of the fight.
Farmer’s success continued down the stretch, but it wasn’t enough to sway the judges. He lost his third consecutive fight (the other loss came against lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla in July), though Farmer improved his stock greatly with two gutty performances against Zepeda.
“Nothing against Zepeda, he’s a fighter. … He don’t make the scorecards … probably one of the toughest fighters in the division because of his output,” said Farmer, a 34-year-old Philadelphia native. “If you can’t keep up with his output and you can’t hurt him back, he will pressure you.
“I have respect for the fighter, I have no respect for boxing. … I dominated all the last rounds. … The first seven was a little rocky. … I can’t keep going into camp and not getting the decision and getting robbed. The last fight was closer than this fight.”
Zepeda is ESPN’s No. 2 lightweight behind Stevenson. With the victory, Zepeda will maintain his mandatory position with the WBC and could finally earn his first title shot this summer with a clash against one of the sport’s top fighters.
Source: espn.com