A troubling controversy has cast a shadow over the recent event held at The Venue Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia, organized through the combined efforts of promoters Oscar De La Hoya and Benjamin Shalom. According to claims made by Tevin Farmer on social media, neither he nor his opponent, William Zepeda Segura, who engaged in a thrilling battle for the Interim WBC Lightweight Title, underwent the customary drug testing on the day of the fight.
The bout between Farmer and Zepeda was highly entertaining and thrilling. The two fighters exchanged an extraordinary volume of punches over ten rounds, and the judges’ final scorecards, awarding Zepeda a razor-thin Split Decision victory, reflected the intense balance witnessed in the ring.
Despite entering the fight as a significant underdog and being largely dismissed by many experts, Farmer managed to knock down his unbeaten opponent in the fourth round and challenge him severely throughout the fight, leaving the ring with his head held high despite the loss.
However, yesterday morning, the 34-year-old Philadelphia boxer made a shocking revelation on social media platform X, writing:
Why wasn’t me and Zepeda drug tested? I ask multiple times in the locker room before we fought. They said after the fight. And still no test. I’m just saying. Boxing is dirty. You never know. Thank you to all my supporters.
Farmer followed up with another post a few hours later:
Every other championship fight on the card was drug tested. Why not me and Zepeda ? I have so many questions. I kept asking before the fight. They told me after the fight “oh we was short staffed” How? It was only 6 fights on the card.
The issue raised by the American fighter is serious, and his words have quickly been picked up and discussed by several prominent boxing journalists. Among them was The Ring reporter Jake Donovan, who also posted his thoughts on X:
Drug testing has been the staple of #RiyadhSeasonCard shows so far. A shame that GoldenBoy’s first venture was limited to just the main event in this regard. Fighter safety should NEVER be a budgetary issue.
It remains to be seen whether Oscar De La Hoya will address the matter and provide clarification, or whether the issue will simply be brushed aside. What is clear is that those who write about the sport must bring maximum attention to these claims and hold those responsible accountable to prevent such controversies from recurring.
Considering how closely contested the fight was and the doubts inevitably raised by the absence of drug testing, Tevin Farmer certainly deserves a rematch.