William Zepeda will return to action against Giovanni Cabrera (22-1, 7 KOs) in a 12-round lightweight main event this Saturday, July 6, live on DAZN from inside the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The event is scheduled to begin at 8:00 PM ET.

(Photo credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)

Ranked number one by the four lightweight sanctioning organizations, Golden Boy-promoted William Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs) fought Cabrera (22-1, 7 KOs).

This isn’t the fight Zepeda’s promoters wanted, as they were hoping for a title shot against WBC 135-pound champion Shakur Stevenson, but that’s not happening. Cabrera, 29, is the best Zepeda has to offer, so he’ll have to be elated for now.

Zepeda vs. Cabrera Event Information

Start time: 8:00 PM ET on DAZN
Location: Toyota Arena, Ontario, California

Zepeda, 28, has been in incredible form recently, beating these four players:

-Maxi Hughes: RTD 4
– Mercito Gesta: TKO 6
-Jaime Arboleda: KO 2
-Joseph “JoJo” Diaz: UD 12

Zepeda is a bad style for Cabrera because he doesn’t have much power and mostly boxes, looking for decisions. He’s like a taller, less graceful version of Maxi Hughes.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Cabrera is a tidy boxer with excellent skills. He has been defeated only once in his career, a 12-round split decision over Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz last July.

Cabrera handled the pressure of Pitbull Cruz well and was on the attack in the championship rounds, outpointing the 5’4” Mexican star. He could have won this fight if he had started attacking Cruz earlier, as he was the better fighter in the final moments.

Of all the 135-pound fighters, Zepeda has the best fighting style to defeat WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson.

Given the pressure and high tempo of Zepeda’s offensive game, this would be a really bad style for Shakur and he would have to move more than in any other fight he’s had.

Unfortunately, he won’t be able to beat Zepeda this way unless the case turns out to be controversial, and that can’t be ruled out.

Event details

• Date: Saturday, July 6
• Start time: 7pm PDT (3am Sunday UK time)
• Streaming: DAZN
• Location: Toyota Arena, Ontario, California.

Updated fight card:

• Main Event: William Zepeda vs. Giovanni Cabrera – 12 Rounds, Lightweight
• Co-Main Event: Ricardo Sandoval vs. Angel Acosta – 10 Rounds, Flyweight
• Preliminary Card: Manuel Flores vs. Nohel Arambulet – 10 Rounds, Super Bantamweight
• Preliminary Card: Joel Iriarte vs. Yainel Alvarez – 6 Rounds, Welterweight
• Elimination Fight of the Night: Alex Martin vs. Pedro Campa – 10 Rounds, Super Lightweight
• Eliminations: Gael Cabrera vs. Mychaquell Shields – 4 rounds, bantamweight
• Eliminations: Joshua Garcia vs. Jason Buenaobra – 6 rounds, super featherweight
• Eliminations: Anthony Saldivar vs. Roman Canto – 4 Rounds, Super Welterweight
• Eliminations: Daniel Luna vs. Joseph Walker – 4 Rounds, Lightweight
• Eliminations: Japhethlee Llamido vs. Ryan Allen – 8 rounds, super bantamweight

LAS VEGAS — Dana White has come to the defense of Ryan Garcia, who was recently suspended for a year by the Modern York Athletic Commission after he tested positive for a banned substance.

“From what my team tells me, and these guys are the damn best, [it was a] “Contaminated supplement,” UFC boss said.

Garcia put on the performance of a lifetime when he knocked down Devin Haney three times en route to a decision victory on April 20 at the Barclays Center in Modern York City, but that was later ruled null and void when drug testers detected Ostarine in the 25-year-old boxer’s urine.

His legal team issued a statement to WBN on May 31 stating, “The results of the tests on samples of two supplements declared by Ryan Garcia on VADA doping control forms signed on April 19 and 20 came back positive for ostarine contamination.”

They added that “confidential test reports” indicate the banned substance came from two NutraBIO-brand supplements.

NutraBIO has vehemently denied this, issuing a statement indicating that “no ostarine has been found in its products” after conducting its own testing.

CEO and founder Mark Glazier called Garcia’s claims “irresponsible,” adding, “Any express or implied statements suggesting that our product contained ostarine at the time of sale are completely without merit.”

A number of UFC fighters have tested positive for Ostarine in recent years, including UFC bantamweight champion and non-weight ranking star Sean O’Malley, who has an online rivalry with Garcia.

Following Saturday’s UFC 303 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, White spoke with World Boxing News and other reporters about Ostarine, Garcia and his ban from boxing.

“None of this is my business — it’s not my record,” he began. “I hate to talk about drug testing, but with all my knowledge… in the years [UFC has] “he was drug tested, we believe the people doing the drug testing were taking contaminated supplements and were not cheating.”

White said that if Garcia “had the right people around him,” none of this would have happened.

He reiterated that as the president of a leading MMA organization, he has “no skin” in the boxing business. “I don’t care; it’s not my fight, it’s not my business.”

However, he added that the UFC is “pretty sure it was a tainted supplement.”

While Garcia’s ban expires in April 2025, that does not in any way diminish his status as one of boxing’s biggest stars.

As reported last month, Garcia could face at least two more world title shots after serving his suspension.

Premier Boxing Champions consultant Stephen Espinoza has welcomed the fight between PBC star Gervonta Davis and Golden Boy Promotions boxer Garcia, calling it a “huge, huge rematch” in an exclusive interview with World Boxing News.

Boxing coach Bob Santos, on the other hand, in an interview with us in which he discussed the mega fight between Manny Pacquiao and Barrios in behind schedule 2024, apparently would like to see his fighter Mario Barrios fight Garcia next year.

By: Sean Crose

Gervonta Davis. Vasyl Lomachenko. Devin Haney. Teofimo Lopez. All of these men are in the overall weight class of WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson. With a 21-fight record and zero losses, the 27-year-old Stevenson would be a familiar face for any of the aforementioned names. Stevenson is more than just an undefeated champion. He is considered one of the most talented fighters in the world. Highly talented and at times fascinating, the Newark, Up-to-date Jersey product is good—very good—maybe too good for his own good.

Stevenson, after all, has been accused of being a tedious fighter. While he’s no knockout artist, his last fight—a tedious twelve-rounder with Edwin De Los Santos last November—really raised eyebrows. While there was no doubt that Stevenson had expertly outplayed De Los Santos that night, the question of why Stevenson didn’t step up and keep De Los Santos at bay, or at least look genuinely engaged, began to swirl. Stevenson himself admitted that he wasn’t cheerful with his performance. Boxing, being at least as much a business as it is a sport, doesn’t smile on fighters who fail to generate any kind of excitement either in or out of the ring. Stevenson, more than anyone else, knows that he has to at least entertain in order to gain the fame and challenge he craves.

One way Stevenson can generate buzz that will attract attention and praise is if the promoted fighter makes an impression this weekend when he faces Artem Harutyunyan on Saturday night in his hometown of Newark, N.J. The German Harutyunyan has a record of 12-1, having only lost in his last fight when he was discredited by Frank Martin. In other words, Harutyunyan is no can of tomatoes. The 33-year-old has good punch timing and power, although his record of just seven knockouts doesn’t suggest much.

Of course, a loss to Harutyunyan would be devastating for Stevenson at this point in his career. However, an impressive win would make the multi-division champion that much harder for other top fighters to avoid. It’s time for this man to find his way into a large fight. Considering both Lopez and Lomachenko are fighting under the Top Rank banner, this large fight may actually be more evenly matched than it seems.