By Ian S Palmer
IBF Super Featherweight Champion Tevin Farmer of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania defends his title for the second time as he takes on Francisco Fonseca of Costa Rica this Saturday, December 15th. The 12 round bout can be seen live on DAZN in North America and on Sky Sports in the UK. Farmer won the vacant title in August when he beat former champion Billy Dib by a unanimous and defended it against James Tennyson by fifth-round stoppage in October. Fonseca last fought in August when he stopped Sandro Hernandez in the fifth round to retain his WBO Latino Super Featherweight Crown.
The 28-year-old Farmer originally fought for the vacant title last December, but suffered an upset when he dropped a split decision to Kenichi Ogawa. Many fans and experts thought Farmer had done enough to win and the bout was later changed to a no-contest when Ogawa failed a drug test. Farmer stands 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 67-inch reach. He had only 16 amateur fights and went 12-4 before turning pro in 2011, and he’s boxed 228 rounds since then. He enters the bout with a record of 27-4-1 with just 6 Kos to his name.
Farmer lost his pro debut as he was stopped in four rounds by Oscar Santana. He then dropped a four-round unanimous decision to Josh Bowles eight months later and drew Frank De Alba in his next fight. Three fights later, Farmer lost an eight-round decision to Kamil Laszcyk and was then stopped by Jose Pedraza in eight rounds in 2012. He didn’t give up though despite losing four and drawing one of his first 12 fights and Farmer is now riding a 20-fight winning streak. He hasn’t fought many contenders though with his best wins being over Tennyson, Dib, Ivan Redkach, Emanuel Gonzalez and Gamaliel Diaz.
With a current knockout ratio of just 18 per cent it appears Farmer doesn’t have much at all in the way of power, but Fonseca can’t take him lightly because he possesses fine boxing skills and a lot of hand speed. He’s improved a lot over the years and his chin isn’t bad at all even though he’s been stopped twice. Farmer’s lost some points in his career though for bending the rules from time to time and isn’t averse to landing low blows. He’s now getting a chance at proving his talent, but needs to take on tougher opposition if he hopes to be recognized as a legitimate champion.
The 24-year-old Fonseca has lost just once as he possesses a mark of 22-1-1 with 16 Kos to his name. He stands 5-feet-7-inches tall with a reach of 69.5 inches so is an inch taller than Farmer and has a 2.5-inch reach advantage. He’s fought 111 rounds since turning pro back in 2013 and also possesses pretty good power with a current knockout ratio of 67 per cent. However, his level of opposition has been questionable up to now as he’s fought mainly Grade B opponents. Fonseca did step up in class once though when he took on Gervonta Davis for the vacant IBF Title.
Things didn’t work out too well for him though in the August, 2017 fight as he was stopped in the eighth round. However, Fonseca was given about two week’s notice for that bout and that’s simply not enough time to prepare to take on somebody as accomplished as Davis. He’s had more time to prepare for Farmer and is obviously hoping for a better outcome. Since turning pro Fonseca has also won the IBF Inter-Continental Super Featherweight Championship. However, just nine of his 24 previous opponents have had winning records so he lacks experience against solid opposition.
Prediction…
Fonseca may be a good prospect as he’s just 24 years old and he does have a puncher’s chance here against Farmer. But he lacks experience against top opponents and will have a hard time dealing with the champion’s skills. Fonseca is going to have to be at his very best to take the title, but I’m not expecting him to be able to pull it off as Farmer’s speed, skills and punch output should be too much for him.
