WBC interim lightweight champion William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer are finalizing negotiations for a rematch on March 29th in Cancun, Mexico.
Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) is being given a rematch after losing to Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) by a 10-round split decision on November 16th in Riyadh on the Latino Night card.
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Tevin complained bitterly afterward that he should have been given the decision. It didn’t look that way, but it’s understandable why he would be unhappy. Now, he gets another payday, but his chances of winning the rematch are nonexistent.
The scores
95-94 – Zepeda
95-94 – Farmer
95-94 – Farmer
Some boxing fans considered it a controversial decision, as they felt Farmer, 34, deserved the victory. Farmer scored a knockdown in the fourth round and mainly landed headshots.
“They are about to finalize the rematch between William Zepeda and Tevin Farmer for March 29 in Cancun. The fight will now be 12 rounds for the interim Lightweight championship [for WBC],” said Salvador Rodriguez on X.
Zepeda focused almost entirely on the body of Farmer, nailing him with powerful shots that should have easily resulted in him winning a wide decision.
Interestingly, the judges seemed to ignore Zepeda’s bodywork and focused on the occasional eye-catching headshots from Farmer. The scoring reflected what this set of judges felt is important to them. Many judges would have scored it wide for Zepeda based on his punishing work to the body. It wasn’t close.
I had it 9-1 for Zepeda. Farmer won the fourth due to his flash knockdown of Zepeda, but other than that round, it was one-sided. Zepeda pounded Farmer’s body in every round of the fight and had him looking worn out by the eighth round.
Farmer had the same look to him as other Zepeda opponents when they’ve taken too much punishment and need to be pulled out for their own good. It was valiant that Farmer stayed in there but wasn’t competitive from the eighth round. It was hard to watch the old veteran get beaten up like that.
The former IBF super featherweight champion Tevin was gone and was the equivalent of a punching bag in the final three rounds. If this had been a 12-round fight, Farmer would have been knocked out because he was absorbing terrible punishment in the last two rounds.
It was similar when Farmer fought Raymond Muratalla on July 13, 2024. Farmer was competitive for seven rounds but took a beating from the eighth round on and was lucky to see the final bell.
In the last two rounds, Zepeda threw 100+ punches per round, and Farmer looked like a victim getting worked over. Surprisingly, the judges had this mismatch close. A rematch isn’t needed, but it would quiet the fans who felt Farmer was robbed.
Zepeda needs to win this fight and look good to setup a title challenge against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, provided he’s victorious in his clash against Floyd Schofield on February 22nd.
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