Trainer Greg Hackett believes William Zepeda will be a tough fight for WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson if they battle next after watching the Mexican defeat a very tough Tevin Farmer last Saturday night in their rematch in Cancun, Mexico.
The volume, pressure, and the “dog” in Zepeda (33-0, 27 KO) is what impressed Hackett with his 12-round majority decision victory over Farmer (33-8-1, 8 KOs). Hackett saw the fight as an 8-4 win for Zepeda and disagreed with the judge that scored the fight a draw at 114-114.
It’s unclear whether Zepeda will face Shakur next for his belt. He holds the WBC interim belt, and it could be a waste of time to continue to build towards that fight. Farmer’s style is as close as Zepeda can get to being similar to Shakur’s.
“Shakur is a little quicker on the fight. A little better with the angles, and a sharper puncher than Tevin Farmer,” said Greg Hackett to MillCity Boxing, talking about how Shakur Stevenson would do against WBC interim lightweight champion William Zepeda after watching the Mexican fighter defeat Tevin Farmer in their rematch last Saturday night.
Shakur is a better mover than Tevin Farmer, but he lacks his punching power and unpredictability. Farmer constantly changed the angle of his shots, making it impossible for Zepeda to accurately predict where the punches were coming from last Saturday. The uppercuts that Farmer was hitting Zepeda with had a lot more force on them than the ones that Stevenson lands. There’s no comparison between the two.
“I think Shakur might make that fight a little bit easier. Shakur has a way of neutralizing your style. He knows how to take things away from you, and he’s a little more accurate than Tev. A little sharper, and he might be a little more quicker when it comes to striking, throwing one shot at a time. He’s taller, and I think that’ll help him.
If Shakur’s hands break down on him against Zepeda, he’ll be in serious trouble because he’s not going to be able to run from this guy for 12 rounds like he did against Edwin De Los Santos. Zepeda won’t be afraid to take some shots from Shakur land his. If all Stevenson can do is run and throw to the body, it’s not going to work against Zepeda.
A healthy Shakur may have big problems against Zepeda as well because he can’t generate enough power or throw enough punches to win exchanges. Zepeda hits to hard and throws too many shots for Shakur to handle beat him in exchanges.
“I don’t think Zepeda will be able to track him as easy. Tevin was putting himself in the corner a lot last night. In the first fight, he was staying in the middle more. I think that’s a great fight [Shakur vs. Zepeda].
“No, I don’t think he can beat none of the champions. Not right now,” said Hackett when asked if he thinks there’s any champions at lightweight that Zepeda can beat. Not an easy fight, but he’ll adjust to him in probably three rounds,” said Hackett about Shakur adjusting to Zepeda early on if they fight next. “Shakur ain’t about to lose to anybody.”
