Tevin Farmer's fans are angry as they believe he was robbed in his 10-round split decision against lightweight contender William Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) in their fight at The Venue in Riyadh on Saturday night.
Farmer's followers continue to mention his flash knockdown of Zepeda in the fourth round, using that as a reason why he deserved the win. They don't mention that this was the only round that Farmer actually seemed to win, and that he was getting his body and head worked by Zepeda's volume punches.
If all anyone saw was the short flash knockdown clip on social media that has gone viral, it's understandable why they think he was robbed and deserved the win over Zepeda. That is not the reality of the struggle. Zepeda dominated every round with volume and kept jacking to survive.
Zepeda overwhelmed farmer
Farm fans need to let this little statistic sink in. Zepeda threw 1087 punches and landed 527, for a connect rate of 48%. Not only did Zepeda throw a huge number of punches each round, but he literally couldn't miss.
What made that even more important is that he threw power shots, many of them to Farmer's body, and that's why the Philadelphia native had nothing left in the sixth round.
The Farmer's Sea Lamprey Strategy Fails
Those body shots from Zepeda were kryptonite for Farmer, weakening him to the point where he clung to him like a sea lamprey clinging to a fish. Farmer did his best with his pot shots, but he couldn't match the work rate or power of Zepeda's shots. It is unclear whether Farmer's team's plan for the battle was to relentlessly engage Zepeda's attack or whether he devised this himself. Anyway, it was a failure.
If Farmer wanted to win, he had to throw punches because it was clear he couldn't handle the heat Zepeda was putting on him.
That's why he lost. If judges scored rounds based on clinching, Farmer would have won because he topped Zepeda in every round in that category.
It's not the end of the world for Zepeda. He can bounce back from this loss if he returns to super featherweight, but it's clear at this point he's too weak to compete at lightweight. If he stays in the weight class, he will continue to be used as a B-side opponent to prepare fighters for Shakur Stevenson, which is why he was assigned against Zepeda. He's a knock-off version of Shakur, but braver, more powerful and not a runner.
De La Hoya is in awe of Zepeda
“I had one point for William. He had the ruthless style; he kept throwing punches. He lands punches like no other fighter,” Oscar De La Hoya told iFL TV about William Zepeda after his victory over Tevin Farmer at Saturday's Latino Night in Riyadh.
“Tevin is a great fighter. He told me after the fight, 'Look, I want to come back and fight for you. Absolutely, Tevin Farmer will be a champion one day.”
If Farmer wants to be champion “someday,” it better be soon, because he turns 35 in July and has lost his last two fights. De La Hoya must convince Farmer to return to 130 or drop even further to 126 if he can make the weight.
Farmer will never become world champion at 135 because he can't punch hard enough, as we saw against Zepeda. He's going to fight his way to a world title.
Now that this fight is over, Zepeda is ready to challenge WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson and overwhelm him with punches like he did against Farmer. Shakur's work rate is terrible compared to Zepeda's.
For example, in Shakur's fight against Edwin De Los Santos last year on November 16, he only threw 297 punches and landed 81. Compare that to the 1087 punches Zepeda threw against Farmer. Zepeda made 527 of those shots. You see what I mean. It probably won't end well for Shakur.
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