Did William Zepeda Just Expose Shakur Stevenson’s Blueprint?

Shakur Stevenson responded predictably to his heir apparent, William Zepeda's victory over Shakur-esque clone Tevin Farmer on Saturday night, calling him “Food.”

(Credit: Golden Boy/Cris Esqueda)

Zepeda has cracked the code

What we saw tonight was Zepeda easily cracking the Shakur code by dominating a Tevin (33-7-1, 8 KOs) and winning a ten-round split decision at The Venue in Riyadh in a lopsided victory should be. Zepeda threw 1,087 punches and landed 527.

Those were mostly power shots, and Farmer looked like he had given up in the eighth round. He had nothing left and was holding on to survive. The white flag of surrender was raised and he actually surrendered.

Farmer mainly tried to smother Zepeda by holding on, but took many shots from the Mexican fighter on the inside. This was his game plan. Even the attempts to neutralize Zepeda's work through excessive clinching didn't work for Farmer.

It was the only thing he could do to avoid being knocked out. If Farmer had not used those negative tactics, he would not have made it to the sixth round because he was outmatched in attack.

The judges gave it to Zepeda based on the scores:

– 95-94 and 95-94 Zepeda – 95-94 Boer

Farmer only fought well enough to win the fourth when he scored a flashing knockdown. If you look at that round, Zepeda dominated all the way to the knockdown and then got up and finished strong as she continued to beat former IBF super featherweight champion Farmer.

Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) has his laser sights set on WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), targeting the Mayweather-style throwback fighter for a February 22 event in Riyadh.

Those two fighters will meet next unless Shakur's promoter, Eddie Hearn, chooses to sidestep Zepeda after what he did to Farmer tonight. I wouldn't blame Hearn. Zepeda showed he had no problem solving the Shakur Code with his win over the knockoff version, Farmer.

Shakur views Zepeda as a threat

Shakur's labeling of Zepeda as “food” makes it clear that the New Jersey native views him as a threat. Losing to Zepeda would end Shakur's hopes of fighting Gervonta Davis as he would be fired. First off, Tank doesn't really want to fight a runner, and if he loses to Zepeda, there wouldn't be any reason for him to fight him.

It would take too many years for Shakur to bounce back from a loss to Zepeda, and it's doubtful he can, as he already showed against Edwin De Los Santos that he doesn't belong at 135.

Shakur is a fish out of water and lightweight, lacking the strength and courage to fight in the trenches. He would never even try to fight Zepeda like Farmer did tonight by standing on the front lines and meeting fire with fire. You can't beat Zepeda by running. Farmer knew this. That's why he didn't try to run away like he did past the Zepeda victims.

“If I had let him set the pace it probably would have been too much. That's what a lot of young fighters don't know. If you have a guy who likes to move forward, you have to let him move back because that's all he can do. So we made them go backwards,” Tevin Farmer told DAZN after his loss to Zepeda.

Zepeda vs peasant fight stats

• William Zepeda threw an absurd number of punches, with 1087 thrown, and connected on 527 for a 48% connect rate.
• Farmer threw 737 and landed 361 for a 49% connect rate.

“I think we saw the best Tevin Farmer tonight. That's what you have to do to beat him, and he still came up short,” said DAZN's Sergio Mora.

Food!!

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) November 16, 2024

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