Tevin Farmer wants to unify junior lightweight BADLY!
IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer (28-4-1, 6KO), has taken to social media calling out all of the champions in his division!
The Philadelphia slick southpaw won his first world title by defeating Billy Dib in 2018. However, his journey was met with controversy as he suffered a questionable loss for the IBF title to Kenichi Ogawa in December 2017.
Eventually, the decision was changed to a no contest when a failed PED test by Ogawa arouse.This allowed Farmer to fight Dib for the title again.
Anyone Can Get It!
The 28 year-old has wanted a fight with long time rival and WBA super champion Gervonta Davis since he was the IBF champion before losing the title on the scales. Realizing that fight may not, he happen has signed with DAZN while making two successful title defenses.
Furthermore, he called out newly crowned WBA regular champion Andrew Cancio who dethroned Alberto Machado February 9. While some may think this isn’t a good idea, it’s important to point out the “devil in the details.”
WBA Regular Title Shenanigans
It will not be a unification match-up as the other three major sanctioning bodies don’t permit unifying their titles with the WBA regular title.
Case and point, during the WBSS cruiserweight tournament, the WBA promoted Yuniel Dorticos to super champion in order to make a bout with IBF champion Murat Gassiev a unification bout.
Furthermore, it doesn’t guarantee a fight with Davis will take place as Keith Thurman held the super title and never got close to fighting super champion Floyd Mayweather. Additionally, Demetrius Andrade couldn’t get the desired fight with super champion Erislandy Lara while holding the regular title.
Network Politics
Then take into account the politics of being on a different platform. A bout with say Masayuki Ito or Davis would involve ESPN and Showtime respectively wanting to split the network profits. These type of negotiations hardly ever go smooth.
If anything you have to admire the “fighter’s mentality” of Farmer as he is willing to fight anyone to prove he is the best! In a perfect world the other champions would immediately reply making that fight happen.
Most of the boxing community can agree with the IBF champion that there needs to be more unification match-ups. Junior lightweight is a stacked division where some serious match-ups can be made.
In the meantime, Farmer is scheduled to make his third defense against Jono Carroll in Philadelphia on March 15!
By: Garrisson Bland
