By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten highly ranked lightweight William Zepeda (27-0, 23 KOs) will be headlining tonight against fringe super featherweight contender Jaime Arboleda (19-2, 14 KOs) at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. The event will be streamed live on DAZN at 8:00 p.m. ET.
It’s unknown why Golden Boy matches the 26-year-old southpaw Zepeda against a 130-pounder in Arboleda, but they likely couldn’t get any top lightweights to face him.
Zepeda’s high work rate will likely be too much for Arboleda, a power puncher not known for throwing a lot of shots in his fights. Chris Colbert stopped Arboleda in the eleventh round in 2020. Arboleda was also knocked out by journeyman Recky Dulay (11-9, 8 KOs) in 2017.
Arboleda’s best wins have come against Jayson Velez, Jonathan Victor Barros, and Victor Betancourt Jr.
Not many promoters would want to throw their best 135-pounders in with a punching machine like Zepeda and watch them get hammered. Shakur Stevenson had recently shown interest in fighting Zepeda, but Golden Boy opted not to make that fight for obvious reasons.
Zepeda wants a world title shot, so he needs an impressive victory over Arboleda to make him an appealing option for undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney.
The best possible scenario would be for Zepeda to be selected by WBA ‘regular’ 135-lb champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis for his next fight, but that would require not only an outstanding knockout victory for him over Arboleda on Saturday night but also a lot of luck.
Tank Davis’ management at PBC is very picky, and they’re going to look on their side of the street first for his next opponent before they begin looking towards choosing a fighter that isn’t with them.
In Zepeda’s last fight, he dominated former IBF 130-lb champion Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz, beating him by a one-sided twelve-round unanimous decision last October. Arboleda is a step backward from the JoJo Diaz fight for Zepeda, but again, promoters aren’t about to throw their best lightweights in with him.
Complete card
- William Zepeda vs. Jaime Arboleda
- Diego De La Hoya vs. Victor Morales
- Frederick Lawson vs. Estevan Villalobos
- David Stevens vs. Marco Antonio Periban
- Tristan Kalkreuth vs. Jonathan Lee Rice
- Roberto Cruz vs. Tyrone Selders
- Caleb Suniga vs. Carlos Arroyo
- Darius Fulghum vs. Jay Williams
“This is my second time as the main event in my career, the first time in the red corner, and I am so excited and have prepared well for this moment,” said William Zepeda during the final press conference on Thursday.
“I trained hard for this fight and am coming with everything come Saturday night. I promise to give the fans an inspiring fight.”
“We have a tough opponent this Saturday night and the chance of a lifetime to be a titlist,” said Arboleda about his headliner on Saturday night against Zepeda.
“I haven’t watched Zepeda fight before. We did an excellent preparation, and we hope to bring a great fight and show what the Arboleda name is capable of. We will be victorious.”
(Photo credit: Golden Boy Promotions)