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After witnessing Gervonta Davis’ emphatic victory in his super-fight with Ryan Garcia, Oscar De La Hoya knew he had a tough sell ahead of him.
Golden Boy, his promotional company, is delivering another lightweight contest that he promises is as much about the future of the division as last week’s between two more eminent title hopefuls, as William Zepeda defends his WBA Continental Americas belt against Jaime Arboleda.
“When you have the likes of Shakur Stevenson and other top dogs in the lightweight division calling you out, you must be doing something right,” De La Hoya said of the undefeated Zepeda.
It is little surprise too that the 26-year-old is beginning to garner so much attention.
After Joseph Diaz’s loss to Devin Haney, he hoped Zepeda might be a more straightforward return match, but was beaten by unanimous decision.
All the indications are that Arboleda risks going the same way, even if he has considerable power to trouble Zepeda.
There is little shame in being stopped by Chris Colbert, as Arboledar was in 2020 after going 11 rounds with him, but he was also knocked out by the far less impressive Recky Dulay (11-9).
This time around, Arboledar admits he has never even seen his opponent fight before but added: “We know what he is capable of inside the ring”.
This was not meant to be the main event, and Zepeda has dedicated the fight to Vergil Ortiz Jr, who has once again been forced to withdraw amidst his struggle with muscle condition rhabdomyolysis. Ortiz was supposed to be fighting WBA (Regular) welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis.
Ortiz is now expected to return in July but for now, Zepeda has the chance to showcase a 27-0 record and add to his 23 KOs.
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Zepeda vs Arboleda details
- Date: Saturday 29 April
- Venue: College Park Centre, Arlington, USA
- Fight time: Ring walks for the main event are expected around 4am UK time
- TV/live stream: DAZN, where subscriptions start from £9.99 a month
- Undercard highlights: A relatively quick turnaround for Diego De La Hoya (cousin of Oscar) as he faces Victor Morales for the WBA Intercontinental featherweight title. This is the first real test of Morales’ record, which is a little flattering.
- i predicts: Zepeda to win by TKO rounds 8-10
Full card:
- William Zepeda vs Jaime Arboleda
- Diego De La Hoya vs Victor Morales
- Fredrick Lawson vs Estevan Villalobos
- David Stevens vs Marco Antonio Periban
- Tristan Kalkreuth vs Jonathan Rice
- Caleb Suniga vs Carlos Arroyo
- Darius Fulghum vs Julio Bendana
- Roberto Cruz vs Tyrone Selders
Any other business
i sat down with Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith this week as both warned Conor Benn the onus is on him to “clear his name”. Eubank’s plans to resurrect his fight with Benn are over after the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) threatened action, hence why he has turned his attentions to the Smith rematch.
Garcia is hoping for a rematch with Davis but that may not be straight away, with his team keen for him rebuild against lesser opponents first.
There is uncertainty over Andy Ruiz Jr’s prospective bout with Tyson Fury this summer following TMZ’s abuse allegations against Ruiz. However, Ruiz has also appeared to confirm a date has been set for 22 July.
