Zepeda pounds Arboleda with body shots in 2nd-round KO win
Lightweight contender sends message to deep division
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The lightweight division is deep with talent, including undisputed champion Devin Haney, superstar Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, George Kambosos Jr., Isaac Cruz and Frank Martin, just to name a few top names.
And then there is also Mexican power puncher William Zepeda, who continued to make his case on Saturday night that he belongs in the ring with any of them.
Zepeda pulverized Jaime Arboleda with a devastating body attack, knocking him down three times in a blistering second-round knockout in the main event of Golden Boy’s card on DAZN at the College Park Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas.
Zepeda was initially penciled in to box on the undercard of the Davis-Ryan Garcia pay-per-view card last Saturday night but was happy to delay his bout by one week and move into the main event when the highly anticipated bout between WBA “regular” welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis and mandatory challenger Vergil Ortiz Jr. was postponed on March 29 due to the recurrence of an Ortiz medial issue.
Zepeda took advantage of the main event spotlight in his impressive showing against Arboleda (19-3, 14 KOs), 28, of Panama, who was moving up from junior lightweight and riding a three-fight winning streak since being stopped in the 11th round by Chris Colbert in a WBA interim junior lightweight title bout in December 2020.
After a get-to-know-you first round, Zepeda, 26, a southpaw, poured it on and shredded Arboleda with one body shot after another.
Zepeda (28-0, 24 KOs) got in head shots also but it was the body attack that Arboleda could not handle. Zepeda notched the first knockdown with a left to the body that sent Arboleda, who was cut under his left eye, to one knee barely a minute into the round.
Thirty seconds later, Zepeda landed a combination and another body shot that dropped Arboleda to a knee for the second time. He gingerly rose at the count of eight but it was clear he was not in the fight for the long haul.
Zepeda stalked right to him and began teeing off with a brutal combination of punches that had him reeling before yet another left hand to the body dropped him flat on his back. Arboleda managed to roll over onto his front but he was done and referee Ruben Perez counted him out at 2 minutes, 16 seconds.
“We noticed in the first round my opponent was lowering his hands and going to the body was affecting him and that’s why were able to jump on him,” Zepeda said through an interpreter.
Trainer Jay “Panda” Najar said he was not surprised Zepeda cut through Arboleda quickly.
“Discipline is the key to all his victories. He’s a very disciplined fighter and all the aspects of that,” Najar said. “When you train up at 10,000 feet above sea level he can be a machine. He can fight going forward, he can go backwards, he can fight mid-distance and he’s always going to be a great show. Win, lose or draw he’s going to give a great show just because of his discipline.”
Where Zepeda goes next is up in the air but he wants a major fight.
“It’s a loaded division. We know that,” said Zepeda, who was coming off a one-sided unanimous decision over contender and former junior lightweight titlist Joseph Diaz Jr. in October. “We want to fight for a title. It doesn’t matter who it is. I am ready to fight anyone at 135.”
It seems unlikely that he will land one of the top names next. Haney is scheduled to defend the undisputed crown against Lomachenko on May 20; Davis just fought last week; Kambosos is headed to a July title eliminator with Maxi Hughes; and fights with Stevenson, Cruz and Martin would be daunting to make due to having different promoters and broadcasters, not to mention Zepeda poses serious risk with little reward.
But Najar said they are not looking to avoid anybody.
“That’s what we joined boxing for; it was to fight,” Najar said. “If not we would have joined hockey or ballet. We want to fight anybody and that’s why we have a promoter with Golden Boy that’s behind us. We’re ready to fight and we’re willing to fight anybody.”
Morales thrashes De La Hoya
In the co-feature, featherweight Victor Morales surprisingly knocked out Diego De La Hoya (24-2, 11 KOs), 28, of Mexico, who is Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya’s first cousin, in the second round of a firefight.
Morales (18-0-1, 9 KOs), 25, of Vancouver, Washington, who had called out De La Hoya, bloodied and dropped him twice in the second round and he was counted out after the second knockdown by referee Rosario Solis at 1 minute, 8 seconds.
“I wanted Diego to know that the power was there,” Morales said. “We called him out because I needed an opponent to bring out the best in me. I feel like I’m one of the best in my division, but I needed a good dance partner to prove it. I took the first round to figure him out, check his chin because I knew he was dehydrated, and in the second I just hit the gas. This (regional) title is the first of many more titles I know I am going to fight for.”
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Going to be a few big names looking to duck Zepeda given what he has done in his last two fights. Can't wait to see who he fights next.
one last time why no bet on boxing show friday it would be nice if you explain you work hard and do a good job and worth the subcription but to ignore us when we ask a legit question is no way to act