Tevin Farmer Frustrated: ‘I Can’t Get A Decision,’ Veteran Questions Future After Losing To William Zepeda

Tevin Farmer (33-8-1, 30 KOs) hinted about retirement following his twelve-round majority decision loss to WBC interim lightweight champion William Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) last Saturday night in Cancun, Mexico.

The scores were 116-112, 115-113 for Zepeda, and 114-114.

Farmer, 34, lost his third straight fight and fourth in his last seven fights. He feels he deserved the victory over Zepeda last night and states that his previous fight against the Mexican puncher was closer than this. Farmer felt that won that fight, too.

Tevin has turned into a gatekeeper, and he doesn’t seem willing to confront the truth. His lack of wins and repeated competitive defeats show exactly what he is—an old trial horse for the top contenders.

It’s going to get worse for Farmer if he chooses to keep fighting because he doesn’t have the youth or style to be a world champion at 135 or 130. If he moves up to 140, his problems will be worse because he lacks the power to compete with the kilers at light welterweight.

Retirement Hints

“I can’t get a decision. I don’t have a big promoter, so I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Tevin Farmer to DAZN Boxing after his loss to William Zepeda last Saturday night in Cancun. “At this point, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Seriously, because I can’t keep going to camp and doing all this s*** and not getting the decision and getting robbed. The last fight was closer than this fight.”

With a 0-3 record in his three fights, it’s difficult to see any future for the former IBF super featherweight champion Tevin at this stage of his career. He’s 34, moves too much, and has a bad habit of clinching excessively in his fights. If he wants to understand why he lost to Zepeda twice and Raymond Murtatalla before that, he needs to look at all the holding he does. He’s another Devin Haney in that department.

Farmer doesn’t have the talent to beat some of the other top contenders in the division. If you put him in with Andy Cruz, Muratalla, or Abdullah Mason, he’s going to lose because he doesn’t throw enough punches. If Farmer wants to continue his career, he needs to return to the 130-lb division if he can make the weight because he’s not powerful enough and doesn’t possess the punch output to make up for his lack of power.

Clinching Issues

All the movement and clinching that Farmer does compounds his problems. He’s a poor man’s version of Devin Haney. That approach isn’t going to work in this climate at lightweight. No one wants to see that garbage anymore. Fans want action, not holding and running, which is what Farmer did last night through nine of the twelve rounds.

Zepeda started quickly and battered Farmer in rounds one through six. It looked like Zepeda was close to knocking out Tevin in rounds two and four. He dropped Farmer once, but the referee didn’t give him credit.