Boxing Results: William Zepeda Defeats Tevin Farmer By Split Decision

Lightweight William Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) overcame a surprising fourth-round knockdown to defeat Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) by 10-round split decision to win the WBC interim 135-pound title on Saturday night to win at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

(Credit: Golden Boy/Chris Esqueda)

The 34-year-old farmer caught Zepeda with his left hand in round four, sending him to the canvas. The blow caught Zepeda off guard as he charged, and he never saw it coming. That was the highlight of the fight for Farmer, who was defeated by Zepeda in every round.

Zepeda's bodywork overlooked

The judges were impressed with the hard, clean headshots Farmer caught Zepeda with at times, but the rounds were all dominated by the Mexican fighter. Even in the fourth, Farmer's best round, Zepeda landed him by a wide margin and hit him with body shots.

The judges ignored Zepeda's bodywork, so they scored the fight closer than it should have been. Zepeda landed more than twice as many body shots as Farmer and made more power shots.

After Zepeda was knocked down in the fourth, he turned up the heat on Farmer, throwing punches non-stop and making sure he held on for survival. For most of the final six rounds of the match, Farmer tried to thwart Zepeda's attack as he was worked on his body and head. You could see the fight being taken out of Farmer by the flurry of shots Zepeda hit him with.

The judges score:

– 95-94: Zepeda– 95-94: Zepeda– 95-94: Farmer.

Farmer was bitter after the fight, saying, “The knockdown tightened it up for me.” That one knockdown of Farmer didn't negate how Zepeda outworked him in every round of the fight. Once again, the judges didn't give Zepeda credit for the body shots he hit Farmer with, nor did they notice Tevin's frequent holding.

The referee, Harvey Dock, should have penalized the excessive holding for affecting the flow of the fight. It wasn't just holding on every now and then. This was non stop.

Latest punch stats

William Zepeda made 259 of 778 shots, good for 33.3%. Tevin Farmer made 193 of 587 shots, good for 32.9%.

In the final three rounds, Farmer's body language resembled that of a tired fighter as he was exhausted from the pace Zepeda had forced upon him. He couldn't last that long as Zepeda struggled out of clinches and threw short body punches that further exhausted the American.

With the win, Zepeda will next challenge WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on February 22 in Riyadh. Of course, Shakur will have to make it through training camp without suffering a setback with his surgically repaired right hand.

Zepeda throws punches non-stop. I've never fought a pressure fighter in the pros who doesn't stop the puncher. This will be fun!

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 16, 2024