Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez has confirmed that William Zepeda suffered a right-hand injury and won’t be able to challenge Shakur Stevenson for his WBC lightweight belt on February 22nd.
Gomez stated that they’re looking to “reschedule” the Shakur fight because that’s what Zepeda wants next (32-0, 27 KOs). He beat the Shakur-clone Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) last Saturday night in Riyadh, and now he wants the real thing.
Zepeda has been seen walking around with a right-hand brace since the fight with Farmer last Saturday night. This isn’t a fake thing where a fighter ducks. Zepeda wouldn’t be wearing the brace if he weren’t injured because he’s not the type that would duck a fight, particularly against a light-hitting defensive fighter like Shakur.
“No, Zepeda suffered an injury. So, he hurt his hand. We’re looking to reschedule that, but that’s the fight that Zepeda wants,” said Eric Gomez to ESNEWS about William Zepeda having suffered an injury and won’t be able to fight Shakur Stevenson on February 22nd.
During the fight, one could see that Zepeda’s right hand wasn’t at full strength, perhaps injured from the body shots he was hitting the 34-year-old Farmer with.
It’s difficult to pinpoint when the injury occurred in the fight. Still, the number of punches to the body from Zepeda seemed to increase in the second half of the fight, which indicates that he focused downstairs after suffering the injury. It’s easier for fighters to throw to the body than it is to the head when they’ve got a hand injury.
Zepeda defeated Farmer by the scores:
– 95-94: Zepeda
– 95-95: Farmer
– 95-94: Zepeda
Farmer knocked Zepeda down with a left hand in round four, but it was a flash job and not a situation where he’d hurt him. When Zepeda got back up, he continued to dish out punishment to Farmer for the rest of the round and the remainder of the fight.
I had it 9-1 in Zepeda’s favor, but I Factored in the body shots he was landing. The judges were focusing only on the pot shots Farmer was connecting on, and there were nowhere near enough for him to be given a 95-94 win.
Shakur will have to fight someone else next if he wants to stay busy while he waits for Zepeda’s hand injury to head. He should fight one of these contenders next:
Andy Cruz
Edwin De Los Santos
Floyd Schofield
Abdullah Mason
If Shakur wanted to show the world that he’s not afraid to fight any of the killers at 135, he’d fight one of those guys while he waits for Zepeda’s hand injury. But given the risk involved and the high probability that he would turn in another performance where he’s booed out of the arena, he’s not going to chance it by fighting any of those guys.
