Consensus number one lightweight contender William ‘El Camarón’ Zepeda 31-0 (27) again showed why he is one of the most dangerous men at 135-pounds with a third-round knockout of Giovanni ‘El Cabron’ Cabrera 22-2 (7) at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California on Saturday night.
The 28-year-old Mexican southpaw got off to an uncharacteristically slow start against the cagey Cabrera, 29, of Chicago.
After throwing only 56 punches in the first round, Zepeda went to work. In the second round he threw 95 punches connecting with 26, half of which were power shots.
Zepeda ended with 64 of 228 total punches compared to 30 of 198 for Cabrera. Zepeda landed 18 body shots which included the one that ultimately ended the fight.
Referee Thomas Taylor halted the contest at the 1:58 mark of the third round after Cabrera took a knee following a vicious body shot.
“I knew my preparation was going to push me forward,” said Zepeda. “I know I’ve been working. My discipline will always overcome anything. I was concentrated throughout the fight.
“People say that I just throw punches and that’s all, but once they get in the ring with me it’s a different story. We made a game plan that worked for me.
“I can’t compare myself to other fighters. [Isaac] Pitbull [Cruz] can’t say that he’s better than me and I can’t say I’m better than Pitbull. The only way we can determine that is when we’re in the ring.
“I’ve fought some great opposition and I feel I’m one the top of the division. We’re going to look for the opportunity to become world champion.”
Zepeda is in the enviable position of being the number one ranked contender for all four major sanctioning bodies at lightweight. Gervonta Davis is the WBA champ, Vasiliy Lomachenko is the IBF boss, Shakur Stevenson is the WBC kingpin and Denis Berinchyk holds the WBO belt.
There is no word yet on which titleholder he plans on targeting. Whichever way he goes, Zepeda would have to be considered a live underdog at worst in those matchups, and possible a favourite in some of them.
For Cabrera, it’s back to the drawing board. He said he was happy with his performance in the opening round and the only reason he got stopped was because he lost track of the referee’s count.
“I felt awesome in the first round. I thought I was stronger than him and I did feel stronger than him,” said Cabrera.
“I thought I was hurting him with the punches I was landing but then I started to be a little too selective. Then he got me right in the liver. Then after a few seconds I thought I was going to get up for sure then it was ‘10’ and I was like OH MAN! I lost track of the count.”