What top 135-pound fighters are going to want to tangle with William Zepeda?
The volume-punching Mexican contender buried veteran Mercito Gesta in wave after wave of hard, accurate shots until he finally broke down the overwhelmed Filipino and the scheduled 12-round fight was stopped in the sixth round Saturday in Commerce, California.
Zepeda (29-0, 25 KOs) started throwing — and landing — punches to both the head and body at the opening bell and didn’t stop until Gesta’s cornermen indicated that enough was enough.
William Zepeda is a buzzsaw. #ZepedaGesta pic.twitter.com/ZLaXS1rxS2
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) September 17, 2023
Gesta (34-4-3, 17 KOs) fought back bravely until the end, landing some effective counters and sometimes beating Zepeda to the punch. He also moved his feet and ultimately held in attempt to weather the never-ending storm.
However, in the end, he simply couldn’t keep his Mexican counterpart off of him or avoid taking punishment, As a result, by the time the fight was stopped at 1:31 of Round 6, Gesta had taken a terrible beating.
The CompuBox stats were compelling. Zepeda connected on 286 of 618 punches in the five-plus rounds, which is a good night’s work for most fighters over 10 or 12 rounds.
And a remarkable 242 of the punches the winner landed were power shots, which explains Gesta’s inability to continue.
“I wanted to fight a guy with experience,” Zepeda said through a translator afterward. “He gave that to me. I’m going to keep going on my way to becoming a world champion.”
Zepeda’s trainer, Jay Najar, was asked who the team wants next for their imposing fighter.
“We want to fight all the champions who are out there,” Najar said. “We’re ready for each and every one of them. Devin Haney is the champion so we want to fight Devin Haney.”
That was echoed by Zepeda, who said in English, “I’m ready for Devin Haney.”
Haney is expected to move up to 140 pounds to challenge Regis Prograis in his next bout, meaning Zepeda won’t get his dream fight just yet.
If he continues to turn in sensational performances, though, you can bet truly big fights are on the horizon — whether the best 135-pounders like it or not.
