By Mark Eisner: Undefeated lightweight contender William Zepeda (28-0, 24 KOs) made easy work of Jaime Arboleda (19-2, 14 KOs), defeating him by a second round knockout win on Saturday night at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.
Zepeda dropped Arboleda three times with body shots in the second round to get the stoppage. Arboleda was too hurt to get up from the third knockdown. The time of the stoppage was at the 2:16 mark.
Zepeda is arguably a far, far better talent than Ryan Garcia for Golden Boy, but he’s not as well known because he doesn’t have the social media presence that Kingry possesses. 26-7-17
Undercard results
- Unbeaten featherweight Victor Morales (18-0, 8 KOs) shockingly stopped Diego De La Hoya (24-2, 11 KOs) in the second round of the co-feature bout. Morales, 25, dropped De La Hoya with a left hook for the first knockout. Bleeding badly from the nose, De La Hoya barely beat the count. After the action resumed, both fighters threw shots, but a left hook knocked down De La Hoya again. The referee then counted out the badly hurt De La Hoya. The time of the stoppage was at 1:08 of round two. De La Hoya made the mistake of starting too fast against the younger Morales.
- In an entertaining clash, welterweight Frederick Lawson (30-3, 22 KOs) defeated Estevan Villalobos (16-2-1, 12 KOs) by a ten round unanimous decision. Villalobos hurt the 33-year-old Lawson in the tenth and him close to being stopped. However, Lawson was able to use his legs to escape. The scores were 96-94, 96-94, and 97-93. Villalobos was cut under his left eye in the eighth. In the tenth, Villalobos used a wrestling move to take Lawson to the canvas. The referee was lenient and not didn’t warn or penalize Villalobos. At times, it was a rough fight with Villalobos shouldering Lawson.
- Super middleweight prospect David Stevens (13-0, 9 KOs) had a tough time tonight, beating journeyman Marco Antonio Periban (26-7, 17 KOs) by an eight round unanimous decision. Stevens dominated the early rounds, but the 38-year-old Periban came on in the second half, landing long right hands and left hooks to the head. Stevens, 22, looked frustrated in the championship rounds with his inability to knockout Periban. The scores were 78-73, 78-73, and 77-74.
- Cruiserweight Tristan Kalkreuth (10-1, 7 KOs) outworked Jonathan Rice (2-3, 2 KOs), winning a six round unanimous decision. The scores were 59-55, 59-55, and 59-55.
- Super featherweight prospect Caleb Suniga (1-0, 1 KOs) destroyed Carlos Arroyo (5-23-1, 4 KOs). The time of the stoppage was at 0:41.
- Light heavyweight prospect Darius Fulghum (4-0, 4 KOs) stopped journeyman Jay Williams (4-11) in the second round. The time of the stoppage was at 0:58.
- Junior middleweight Robert Cruz (9-0, 5 KOs) beat Tyrone Selders (9-16-2, 6 KOs) by a second round knockout. The time of the stoppage was at 1:48.
Preview: The 26-year-old southpaw Zepeda would have been a far more brutal, competitive fight for Gervonta Davis last weekend than Ryan Garcia, as he’s an inside pressure fighter that goes to the body and is a taller, busier version of Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, who often averages over 100 punches per round in his fights.
Golden Boy has given Zepeda the big promotional push that they’ve done with Ryan Garcia, but he’s a better talent in this writer’s view. Zepeda is more rugged and made for the pro game, and h doesn’t fall apart when hit to the body or head like Kingry.
It’ll be interesting to see if Zepeda can land a fight against Tank Davis if he puts in an impressive performance tonight. With Zepeda’s high-volume punching style, it would be entertaining to see him and Gervonta battling it at close range in a phonebooth battle.
Zepeda has a sturdier chin than Ryan Garcia, and he can handle it to the body. He would likely do well against Tank Davis and hang in there in a war of attrition.
The casual fans confuse William with Jose Zepeda, but these are much different fighters. William is on another level than Jose and destined for world title honors in this writer’s view.
Zepeda destroyed previously unbeaten Hector Tanajara Jr. in July 2021, breaking him down with unrelenting pressure, mixing up body shots & punches to the head until Hector’s corner pulled him out after the sixth round. Tanajara Jr hasn’t fought since.
In Zepeda’s last bout, he beat the well-known former 130-lb world champion Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz by a lopsided twelve round unanimous decision last October on DAZN in Indio, California.
If there were any doubts about Zepeda’s ability to mix it with the best, he dispelled that with his dominating performance against JoJo Diaz. In William’s fight before that, he defeated Rene Alvarado by a ten round unanimous decision. How Zepeda efficiently handled Alvarado was impressive, to say the least.
Last Friday, Zepeda weighed 134.2 lbs, while Arboleda came in at 134.6 lbs. Both guys looked solid at the weight without looking drained or weakened.
The Mexican native Zepeda is ranked #3 WBA, #5 WBC, and #6 WBO at lightweight. He must keep winning to work his way to a #1 spot because it’s unlikely that he’ll get a chance to fight for a world title as a voluntary challenger. He’s too talented.
Zepeda will probably need to fight in a title eliminator to fight for a world title. We could see Zepeda fighting for one of Devin Haney’s four titles after he moves up in weight.
What would be a nightmare for Zepeda is if he had to fight Shakur Stevenson for one of the belts because that fighter is highly defensive, and it would be difficult for William to land his shots against a moving target. We’ll see if that’s how it plays out shortly.
It would be fun to see Zepeda fight Haney for his belts because he struggles against power punchers, and he would have to deal with the heat that would be put on him.
“I trained hard for this fight, and I am coming with everything come Saturday night,” said Zepeda during Thursday’s final press conference. “I want to thank my Mexican fan base, and I promise to give the fans a very exciting fight.”
Tonight, knockout artist William Zepeda (27-0, 23 KOs) will be fighting in a lightweight headliner against the capable Jaime Arboleda (19-2, 14 KOs) in an event at 8:00 pm ET on DAZN at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. Zepeda will show what he’s about in tonight’s bout against the tough Panamanian Arboleda. We’ll let you know who won the fight tonight later on for Zepeda vs. Arboleda.