Zepeda ekes out another close decision against disgusted Farmer
Retains WBC interim lightweight title, maintains position as Shakur mandatory; Collazo KOs Cano in fifth to retain unified strawweight title
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In a second extremely close fight, William Zepeda edged Tevin Famer in their immediate rematch, this time winning a majority decision to retain the WBC interim lightweight title in the main event of a Golden Boy card on DAZN on Saturday night at the Poliforum Benito Juarez in Cancun, Mexico.
And for the second time in a row, Farmer walked away heartbroken over a decision he believed should have gone his way.
Zepeda, who was making his first defense, maintained his position as the mandatory challenger for full titlist Shakur Stevenson as he won 116-112 and 115-113 while one judge had it 114-114.
The rematch took place four months after their initial meeting. That was a highly entertaining battle on Nov. 16 on the “Latino Night” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Zepeda survived the first knockdown of his career when fellow southpaw Farmer clipped him with a perfect overhand left in the fourth round. Zepeda shook it off and pulled out a split decision victory — 95-94 twice for him and 95-94 for Farmer — to win the vacant interim title in an interim title bout unusually scheduled for 10 rounds.
The rematch perhaps did not match the first fight for intensity and action but it was another close contest that was essentially a tale of two fights with Zepeda dominating the first half of the bout and Farmer mounting an admirable comeback in the second half even if it fell just short of victory.