By Tommy Gray: Jose Zepeda (34-2, 26 KOs) is reportedly the next possible opponent for WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 37-0, 28 KOs) to defend his title against on October 23 on ESPN.
This fight is said to be the last one for the former three-division world champion Crawford on his existing contract with Top Rank, but he’s likely to re-sign with them. If Crawford does choose to move on after this fight, we could see him in some big fights in 2022.
Zepeda, 32, is with Top Rank, so it’s easy for promoter Bob Arum to make for Crawford. Also, it won’t break the bank for Top Rank to pay both guys for this clash.
Arum recently mentioned Zepeda, Regis Prograis, and Jose Ramirez as the three guys he was looking at to match against the soon-to-be 34-year-old Crawford for his October 23rd fight date.
The boxing public won’t be pleased with the idea of Crawford fighting Zepeda, but this perhaps the best that Top Rank can do for him.
Most of the talented fighters at 147 are with PBC, and they’re not going to agree to fight the switch-hitting counter-punching Crawford unless they get paid a fortune.
The only way Crawford could fight guys like Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, or Danny Garcia would be on PPV, and that would be a gamble.
Since moving up to 147 three years ago, Crawford hasn’t set the world on fire with the level of opposition that he’s faced. Top Rank has tried to get fights for Crawford, but it just hasn’t happened for him.
Arum says he lost a ton of money in some of Crawford’s fights, and he sounds reluctant to gamble with him.
Zepeda is an 11-year professional with victories over Jose Pedraza, Ivan Baranchyk, Hank Lundy, and Kendo Casteneda. His two defeats came against former WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez and Terry Flanagan.
Zepeda is one of the best fighters at 140, but clearly not the best. These guys are arguably better than Zepeda:
- Regis Prograis
- Josh Taylor
- Jose Ramirez
- Viktor Postol
- Jeremias Ponce
- Gary Antuanne Russell
- Shakhram Giyasov
This writer rates Zepeda over WBA ‘regular’ 140-lb champion Mario Barrios, but it would be a good fight.
Before looking at Zepeda, Arum wanted to put a fight together between Crawford and Manny Pacquiao, but the money wasn’t there to put the match together.
Arum wanted to stage the fight in the Middle East, but when the deal fell through, he wasn’t going to take a gamble of moving it to the U.S.
With Crawford’s track record on pay-per-view, it would have been a risky thing for Arum to stage a Pacquiao-Crawford clash on ESPN PPV. If the PPV revenue failed to cover the huge costs for the purses for Manny and Crawford, Top Rank would lose money.