It’s been a natural progression for William Zepeda. From fighting in empty arenas on the non-televised portion of an undercard against fighters with no future, to headlining his own show against bonafide contenders, Zepeda’s career is moving in the right direction.
This Saturday night, at the Commerce Casino in California, that positive progression continues. On the night, he’ll look to unambiguously take care of business against Mercito Gesta.
Scoring a win over the 35-year-old isn’t likely to be on the front page of any newspapers. Coming up short, however, will push Zepeda to the back of the line. A flat and apathetic performance, nevertheless, isn’t what the 27-year-old is banking on. Not with the lightweight division jam-packed with popular names that can provide him with legacy-defining fights and enormous wads of cash. The one fighter who has the ability to do that better than just about anyone in the lightweight division by a mile is Gervonta Davis.
Far and wide, fans come out in droves to watch Davis fight. Zepeda, while skilled, doesn’t attract nearly that level of fanfare. Although it might be unlikely, the highly thought-of contender believes that a matchup against Davis would show the world that he belongs.
“That’s not only a good fight but that’s an excellent fight,” Zepeda told ESNEWS when asked about potentially fighting Davis down the line. “It’s a great opportunity for me to be able to prove why I’m here.”
As of late, Davis’ ears have perked up whenever his name is uttered. Ryan Garcia, his latest victim, can attest to that.
After years of calling him out, Davis banged his hand on the table and told Garcia to put his money where his mouth was. Once they officially met in the center of the ring earlier this year, Davis made him pay, beating him to the tune of a seventh-round stoppage.
Zepeda isn’t interested in trash-talking the Baltimore native. He also isn’t in the business of saying hold predictions. Instead, the Mexican native is more of the pragmatic type. Davis has a bevy of skills but his power is concussive, explosive, deadly, and whatever other violent superlatives you can think of. Zepeda isn’t oblivious to that. With that said, Davis won’t be in a sparring match if they squared off and will be forced to deal with what Zepeda brings to the table as well.
“I have to watch out for his power and he has to watch out for the excessive amount of punches I throw.”