William Zepeda flirted with disaster to extend his knockout streak.
A wild lightweight battle saw Zepeda overcome a flash knockdown to score three of his own in stopping Tijuana’s own Luis Angel Viedas. The final sequence saw the unbeaten contender floor Viedas and follow with a body shot while his countryman was on the canvas, though avoided disqualification as the referee reached the ten count at 1:51 of round three Saturday evening at Plaza Monumental in Tijuana, Mexico.
Zepeda entered the fight riding a 14-fight knockout streak and nearly had his latest just 0:45 into the night. Oddly, it wasn’t from a knockdown but from Viedas slipping on his corner which was doused in water from the previous fight.
The night wouldn’t get any better for Viedas, who was floored less than a minute into round two. The sequence saw Zepeda also throw an additional body shot while Viedas was still down, which drew a hard warning from the referee after issuing a mandatory eight count.
Zepeda found himself on the canvas for the first time in his career less than a minute later. A cupping left hook by Viedas forced Zepeda to the deck, though quickly recovering from the sequence. Zepeda came back immediately to send Viedas to the canvas, though the result of a shove which resulted in a point deduction.
Viedas was dropped twice in round three, the latter courtesy of an accumulation of punches. Zepeda—who hails from San Mateo Atenco, Mexico—was so in the moment that he kept throwing even as Viedas was on all fours, landing a final body shot. Viedas (29-12-1, 10KOs) complained of the sequence, though to no avail as he was counted out in suffering his seventh knockout defeat.
Zepeda has now stopped his last fifteen opponents as his record improves to 25-0 (23KOs). The win was far from his best performance after having racked up three straight impressive stoppages on NBC Sports Network and DAZN.
Zepeda-Viedas served as the co-feature of a four-fight DAZN telecast headlined by former WBO junior middleweight titlist Jaime Munguia (38-0, 30KOs) versus D’Mitrius Ballard (21-0-1, 13KOs) in a scheduled 12-round battle of unbeaten middleweights.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
