Giovanni Cabera (22-1, 7 KOs) views his fight against William Zepeda as the “highest level of Mexican boxing” this Saturday, July 6th, when the two lightweight contenders go to war at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.
(Credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
The twelve-round fight will give Cabrera, 29, an opportunity to prove his many doubters wrong because they’re not giving him much chance of defeating the uneaten Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs).
Zepeda, 28, is ranked #1 by all four sanctioning bodies in the lightweight division, and that’s a sign of respect from them. They don’t usually all agree on a fighter with their ratings, but they view Zepeda as something special. His ability to throw well over 1000 punches per twelve-round fights is one factor.
It will take a special performance from Cabera to win this fight because he’s not a fighter who can throw a lot of shots and doesn’t possess much power. Without power, Cabrera won’t last long against Zepeda without moving nonstop for 12 rounds.
Zepeda’s last opponent, Maxi Hughes, is known for his excellent boxing skills, but he only made it to the fourth round before he was pulled out.
Cabrera’s Respect and Determination
“I respect William Zepeda. He’s bringing war, but I’m bringing war as well, and I’m looking to hurt him,” said Giovanni Cabrera to Golden Boy Promotions, talking about his fight this Saturday night.
The video clips of Cabrera working out weren’t impressive in terms of his punching power. He looked like he was slapping the heavy bag, and there was no thudding sound on impact.
It will be tough for Cabrera to keep Zepeda off without moving the entire fight. Someone like Shakur Stevenson would have a chance of beating Zepeda because he’s a great mover, but not Cabera.
“I don’t think William Zepeda is overhyped at all. You can talk all the hype you want. You can blow smoke up a fighter’s a**, but nobody can make you break a CompuBox record. That’s really impressive,” said Cabrera.
Zepeda broke the CompuBox record by throwing 1,536 punches in his twelve-round unanimous decision win over Joseph Diaz on October 29, 2022, at the Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, California. That’s an absurd number of punches that Zepeda threw.
Cabrera’s Game Plan
“Yeah, I know that I’m facing a guy with firepower that is hard to keep that pace up. It’s exciting. It’s going to bring the best out of me,” said Cabrera.
Cabrera cannot match Zepeda’s work rate, and his wise trainer, Freddie Roach, will have understood that. Roach will have some excellent game plans that Cabrera can use to neutralize Zepeda’s work rate. If Cabrera can use movement and clinching, he could slow Zepeda down.
“We are working hard to give a good fight. We are training to give a forceful fight and have a strong victory,” said William Zepeda.
“We’re going to go toe-to-toe. It’s going to be my will vs. his. It’s going to be war,” said Cabrera.
Going toe-to-toe with Zepeda for any length of time wouldn’t be smart for Cabrera because he’ll get softened up with body shots and won’t be able to move.
“We are going to come out fighting with what we’ve been working on in camp,” said Zepeda. “The knockout will come by itself. But I think we will demonstrate who Camaron Zepeda is and do what Pitbull Cruz couldn’t do.”
Zepeda is confident that he will win the fight by knockout and might be right. In Cabrera’s loss to Isaac Cruz, he spent much time with his back against the ropes. He can’t do that against Zepeda without taking a lot of punishment.
“It’s not one of those unintelligent fights. This is the highest level of Mexican boxing for sure,” said Cabrera.
