By Brian Webber: William Zepeda says he knew he had Jaime Arboleta hurt tonight when he nailed him with the first body shot, so he chose to continue attacking him in that area at the College Park Arena in Arlington, Texas.
Zepeda’s body punching paid off, as he dropped Arboleda (19-3, 14 KOs) three times in round two to get the knockout in their headliner on DAZN. The emphatic win by the 26-year-old Zepeda (28-0, 24 KOs) left no doubts about who won the fight tonight with his brutal body-punching display.
Zepeda says the game plan was to attack Arboleda’s body early and then switch it upstairs, but he crumbled quickly so that he didn’t need to attack the head.
“We believe it was going to be a very difficult fight. Our plan was to go to his body early, and as soon as we got an opportunity, catch him upstairs, but we ended up catching him with a body shot,” said William Zepeda to the media after his win over Jaime Arboleda.
“It was a great fight. I personally believed in Ryan. I thought he could have proved a little bit more. I thought he was a little overconfident, but keep your head up and continue to fight,” said Zepeda about Ryan Garcia’s loss to Gervonta Davis.
“It’s me and we’re going to showcase it one day,” said Zepeda when asked who is the best at 135. “It would be an honor for me to fight Mercito Gesta, who is a very disciplined fighter who just got done beating JoJo Diaz.
“I’m open to anyone, but I would love to share the ring with him. As a boxer, I know when I hit them, and he did little grunt, and that’s where I had to continue,” said Zepeda about how he knew he’d hurt Arboleda with a body shot.
“I love it. My dream was always to fight in Texas. We know that a body shot is brutal and that it hurts anyone. So that just tells me that he came to win, but our strength was a little better tonight, and my hat goes out to Arboleda,” Zepeda said when asked if he was surprised that Arboleda kept getting up from his knockdowns.
“That’s why we’re in boxing. We’re not in ballet or basketball. We’re here to fight anybody, and hopefully, my opportunity will come soon so that I can demonstrate to the world who William Zepeda is.”
