Lightweight contenders William Zepeda and Giovanni Cabrera both weighed in successfully at Friday’s weigh-in for their main event match on Saturday night, live on DAZN.
Zepeda-Cabrera will meet at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The event begins at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT on DAZN.
Weights:
William Zepeda: 135
Giovanni Cabrera: 137
Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs) looks like a real handful for any of the champions at lightweight. Still, it’s unknown if his high-volume style will work against high-caliber fighters like Gervonta Davis, Vasily Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, and Denys Berinchyk.
Assuming Zepeda wins his twelve-round headliner against Cabrera on Saturday, it’ll be interesting to see which of the champions Golden Boy targets for him to compete for a belt. WBC lightweight champion Shakur has said that Zepeda didn’t want to fight him, and if that’s the case, he’ll target the money match-up against Tank Davis.
“When you watch William Zepeda fight, you know you’re going to get your money’s worth. When we saw him against JoJo Diaz, for instance. Nobody ever did that to JoJo Diaz,” said Oscar De La Hoya to DAZN Boxing, talking about lightweight contender William Zepeda ahead of his fight this Saturday night, July 6th, against Giovanni Cabrera.
Zepeda is one of the more entertaining fighters in the division because he throws nonstop punches, which puts much pressure on him. It would have been nice to see Golden Boy match him against Keyshawn Davis, Raymond Muratalla, or Edwin De Los Santos rather than the recently beaten Cabrera.
“When we saw him in his last fight [against Maxi Hughes], he just comes out and puts on a great show. He knows exactly what’s at stake, and when I say William Zepeda is in a very unique situation. Being ranked #1 in every organization has never been done before,” said De Hoya.
Maxi Hughes was the perfect opponent for Zepeda because he had no power and was coming off a loss to George Kambosos. He was no threat to beating Zepeda, and the fight proved nothing. The way that Golden Boy has matched Zepeda, it’s impossible to know if he’s for real or a fake manufactured fighter like many of them out there.
“So, we have something special with William Zepeda. He reminds me a lot of little Salvador Sanchez. That type of style. He has a beautiful style. Hands up, great footwork, and he’s just relentless. He will be on top of you every single minute of every single round.
Zepeda fights nothing like the late Salvador Sanchez. The great Sanchez would box a lot, and toy with his opposition. Zepeda’s style is more like Aaron Pryor’s with the nonstop punches that he throws.t
“William Zepeda’s opportunity has come. He’s knocking on the door,” said De La Hoy about Zepeda being poised for a world title shot after his match on Saturday night against Cabrera.
- William “El Camarón” Zepeda: 135 lbs (61.23 kg) vs. Giovanni Cabrera: 137 lbs (62.14 kg)
- Ricardo “El Niño” Sandoval: 111.8 lbs (50.71 kg) vs. Angel “Tito” Acosta: 111.6 lbs (50.62 kg)
- “Gucci Manny” Flores: 124.4 lbs (56.43 kg) vs. Noel Arambulet: 128.8 lbs (58.42 kg)
- Joel Iriarte: 146.2 lbs (66.32 kg) vs. Yainel Alvarez: 146.8 lbs (66.59 kg)
