Could Tevin Farmer’s Long-Awaited Return To the Ring Come Against World-Ranked Junior Lightweight Archie Sharp?
Things have been largely quiet for former IBF world junior lightweight champ Tevin Farmer (30-5-1, 6 KOs). The 31-year-old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has not fought since losing the title to Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz in January 2020. It was not his plan to be out of the ring for so long. Ranked 4th by the WBC and 7th by the IBF at 130-pounds, it’s how things have turned out. On September 21, he took to social media to explain his inactivity.
“I’m not inactive cuz I want to be. I want to fight and don’t duck or run from NOBODY. But BS in boxing is delaying it. Send me an opponent/contract without the BS, and we can scrap.”
One fighter paying attention to Farmer’s explanation was world-rated junior lightweight Archie Sharp (20-0, 9 KOs). Reading what he had to say, the 26-year-old from Kent, England, called out the former champ on social media. Never one to back down after being challenged, the Philly fighter quickly responded.
COULD THIS HAPPEN?
During his time off, Farmer became a promotional agent. That means he’s available to fight on any network and work with any promoter.
Ranked second by the WBO at 130, Sharp is promoted by Frank Warren. A contest with Farmer in England would be a decent sell there. It would match two top-ten world-ranked junior lightweights. One of the sanctioning organizations could conceivably make Farmer v Sharp a world title eliminator. It might behoove Warren to see if he can make that fight. On September 23, Farmer took to social media and made it a point to speak about Sharp directly.
Will the back-and-forth trash-talk result in an actual fight? At the very least, there seems to be a mutual interest from both men. The possibility is there, for sure.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
