Jose Zepeda keeps title hopes alive with workman like win over Hank Lundy

Closing in on a world title shot, Zepeda didn’t hammer Hank, but he did enough to get the win and keep his title hopes alive.

Saturday night, live from Virgin Hotel, Las Vegas, it was 2 undefeated fighters going for all the marbles at 140-pounds with the IBF, WBO, WBC and WBA straps on the line. It was massively popular, Avenal, California fighter Jose Ramirez going up against Scotland’s undefeated Josh Taylor over 12 rounds in the main event.

www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/josh-taylor-floors-jose-ramirez-twice-becomes-undisputed-140-pound-champion

In the main support slot, it was an interesting matchup between 2 very experienced fighters in Philadelphia’s Hank Lundy looking to score an upset victory over Jose Zepeda who was coming into the bout off his 2020, “Fight of the Year” honours for his war with Ivan Baranchyk. Lundy, while a clear underdog, was live, and vastly experienced, coming into the fight having faced the likes of Viktor Postol, Ray Beltran and P4P star Terence Crawford. The question going onto the fight was whether Zepeda could work off the energy of the Baranchyk win, control Lundy from the beginning and dictate the pace of the bout over the 37-year-old Pennsylvania veteran. Or, did perhaps the rough Baranchyk fight take something off the favored Zepeda? As ringside announcer, and former champion, ESPN’s Andre Ward said during the telecast, “If Zepeda wants to be part of a championship fight, he needs to be able to get rid of Hanky Lundy”. While Zepeda did take the action to Lundy throughout the bout, Hank showed all the marks of a skilled, experienced veteran with angles and moves that allowed Lundy to stay in the fight, survive and look to land counters.

In the end, after 10 competitive rounds, super lightweight Jose “Chon” Zepeda (34-2, 26 KO’s), rated #1 by the WBC, scored a workman-like UD 10 over “Hammerin” Hank (31-9-1, 14 KO’s). While Zepeda did outwork the crafty, experienced Lundy, he didn’t capture the excitement he did in his last fight. But, in the end, pick up the win and look good next time. Zepeda walked out of the ring with the win after scores of 98-92 across the board. If Zepeda secures a world title shot in the talent-laden super lightweight class, he’ll have to bring much more than he did on this night if he hopes to capture a belt.

Under card results

Kenneth Sims Jr. (16-2-1, 5 KO’s) MD 8 Elvis Rodriguez (11-1-1, 10 KO’s).

Jose Enrique Vivas (21-1, 11 KO’s) W UD 8 Louie Coria (12-5, 7 KO’s)

Andres Cortes (14-0, 7 KO’s) W UD 8 Eduardo Garza (15-4-1, 8 KO’s)

Robeisy Ramirez (7-1, 4 KO’s) W UD 6 Ryan Allen (10-5-1 5 KOs)

Raymond Muratalla (12-0, 10 KO’s) TKO 5 Jose Luis Gallegos (20-11, 15 KO’s).

Javier Martinez (4-0, 2 KO’s) TKO 4 Calvin Metcalf (10-6-1, 3 KO’s)