“Zepeda won't make it to Shakur”: Tevin Farmer on the 'live or die' fight

Tevin Farmer is looking to pull off a major upset against William Zepeda on November 16 and knows he has a chance to ruin the undefeated favorite's scheduled 2025 fight with WBC lightweight titlist Shakur Stevenson.

The 34-year-old Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KO) has not won a fight of significance this decade, his last notable victories coming over Jono Carroll and Guillaume Frenois in 2019, and he has never beaten anyone so badly currently considered Zepeda (31-0, 27 KO).

But he sees a stylistic match as the reason he's here and the reason he can win.

“They say Shakur and I have similar styles and I'm the guy they picked to see how good he is, to see if he's ready for Shakur, but I can promise you that he won't make it to Shakur,” Farmer said this week.

Farmer's last fight came on July 13, when he lost to Raymond Muratalla, himself a rising prospect. The former super featherweight titleholder was competitive but fell short of expectations.

“I feel like it's a matter of life or death for me. The last fight was a matter of life and death for me, and unfortunately it didn't go my way, but I feel like this time it's really a matter of life and death – we'll really die if we have to. ”

The 28-year-old Zepeda is the WBC mandatory challenger for Stevenson, and the two are expected to meet in early 2025 when Zepeda takes care of business against Farmer in a few weeks.