Farmer-Zepeda Drug Testing Irregularity Raises Concerns; WBC, Golden Boy Snub Accountability

Last Saturday, Tevin Farmer went into Golden Boy’s “Latino Night” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the decided “visitor.” He would perform about as well as could expected, dropping the no. 1 ranked lightweight contender William Zepeda before losing a close split decision.

The 34-year-old former world champ, however, walked away with more questions than answers in what should’ve been a career revitalizing performance for the interim WBC lightweight title.

Farmer asserts that, contrary to WBC regulation and his own contract stipulation, there was no drug testing for this Zepeda fight.

“Every other championship fight on the card was drug tested. Why not me and Zepeda? I have so many questions,” Farmer said the morning after the fight via Twitter. “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…It’s suspicious…They said ‘after the fight.’ And still no test. I’m just saying. Boxing is dirty.”

The lack of testing violates WBC regulation for sanctioned title fights and, specifically, its Clean Boxing Program, which specifies that drug testing is “mandatory to men´s boxing” for “all world champions and the first 15 classified in each division.” Zepeda was ranked no. 1 by the WBC while Farmer was ranked no. 13.

Golden Boy also stands in violation of the terms of Farmer’s contract, per Farmer’s assertion.

This is a big story or, at least, it SHOULD be.

However, not a single major boxing website, nor any major boxing media voice, have reported on this violation of protocol. They haven’t even mentioned it.

The deafening silence could be attributed to the fact that much of the media is now flat-out owned by Saudi Arabian interests. Ring Magazine and its reporters are properties of Saudi boxing figurehead Turki Alalshikh. Yahoo’s Uncrowned is tied to the Saudis via business interests. DAZN and its reporters are tied to the Saudis through their dealings with Alalshikh. There are other rumored, but as yet unconfirmed, entanglements tying Saudi Arabian interests to other high-profile boxing media voices.

The WBC and Golden Boy, who both oversaw the sanctioning of the bout and the accompanying fighter safety responsibilities, are also tied to Saudi Arabia via Riyadh Season “partnerships.”

The Boxing Tribune reached out to both entities for clarification and comment. The WBC completely ignored requests for comment. A spokesperson for Golden Boy, meanwhile, issued an auto reply of “I am currently traveling internationally. I will reply as soon as possible,” but never followed up [If either chooses to reply, this article will be updated to include their response].

But, really, why WOULD Golden Boy and The WBC bother to comment when they feel they really don’t have to? With all major media sources bought into silence and others afraid to speak for fear of offending the “wrong” people, the only news that reaches the mainstream boxing fan, from this point forward, will be Saudi state-approved news.

The Zepeda-Farmer bout carried extra significance coming into Saturday’s contest as it was supposed to set the table for a reported February Riyadh Season showdown between Zepeda and WBC lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson, who recently signed with the Saudi-partnered Matchroom Boxing. It was also Golden Boy’s first Saudi Riyadh Season card.

Could there have been some shady dealings in Saudi Arabia Saturday night to ensure Zepeda made it to the February Stevenson bout? Maybe. Maybe not. Nobody outside of a select few, located deep inside the “Kingdom” and within the WBC and Golden Boy, knows for certain whether the lack of drug testing for this contest was a mere oversight or if something more sinister was in play. There was also a secondary concern as to why this title bout was oddly scheduled for ten rounds, when men’s title fights are always twelve-rounders.

But with no real media attention, there’s not even a marginal call for accountability. The story will simply fade away, thereby setting the trend for future stories to similarly fade away and/or be buried by state-sponsored media infinitely more powerful and far-reaching than independent media.

Welcome to the new normal for a boxing media which was already deeply compromised and stifling. It would be safe to assume that, for this entire Saudi boxing run, nothing seen or heard can really be taken for fact and, therefore, no guarantees can be had regarding safety, regulation, or fair play. And none of us will really know about anything going on unless a fighter speaks out on his own behalf.

As for Farmer?

He COULD file a lawsuit in protest of what happened. However, a 34-year-old fighter looking for paydays in a world where most of the champions and many of the highly-ranked contenders are tied to Saudi interests would waste a lot of valuable time trying to pursue justice in that way.

Most likely, Farmer will just have to swallow what was dealt to him and hope he falls into someone’s good graces the next time he signs on to a fight.

This, unfortunately, will also be a new normal when it comes to fighters choosing to compete under an increasingly tightening overseas monopoly.

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