Super Featherweight Champ Tevin Farmer is Proof it’s Never Too Late to be Great

Published

6 years ago

March 13, 2019

The story of Tevin Farmer’s career – his whole life, really – is printed in black letters on the front of his white T-shirt. The three-word message of hope it conveys, Never Too Late, applies to the late-blooming IBF super featherweight champion, of course, but it could apply to anyone who’s ever been rejected, disrespected, kicked when they’re down or told they’re not good enough to ever amount to anything.

Farmer (28-4-1, 6 KOs), who defends his 130-pound title against Ireland’s Jono Carroll (16-0-1, 3 KOs) in the DAZN-streamed main event Friday night at Philadelphia’s Liacouras Center, now knows what it’s like to be on top and it’s clear he enjoys the view. But his memories of the bad old days, which weren’t so very long ago, are still fresh enough to keep him from ever making the mistake of believing that the good times will last forever.

“I’m Never Too Late,” Farmer, from the hardscrabble North Philly neighborhood that has spawned so many great and might-have-been great fighters, said after a brief workout session at the Everybody Fights Gym on Tuesday afternoon that mostly served as a meet-and-greet with the media. “That’s what I stand for. That’s my slogan.”

Farmer’s slogan of choice is on the front, his autograph printed on the back of T-shirts that will be available to the public beginning on March 15, the day before he swaps punches with fellow southpaw Carroll, the IBF’s No. 4 super featherweight contender. Sales of the shirts in Farmer’s hometown and its surrounding areas aren’t apt to result in the same sort of mad rush by Phillies fans to purchase No. 3 jerseys that marked the team’s signing of high-priced free agent Bryce Harper, but he figures if somebody wants something bad enough and long enough, anything is possible.

“What I stand for is not only boxing,” the 28-year-old Farmer continued. “It could be for anything or anybody. You been in jail, or had a bad start in your career or life? You’re older, you’re 40, you ain’t where you want to be? Well, it’s never too late to make things right.

“I got my opportunity and I took advantage. That’s what can happen in life. It’s all about opportunity and timing. When your time comes, you got to take advantage because you never know if or when it’s gonna come again. Where I’m from, we face a lot of obstacles. That was nothing I wasn’t used to. I had a horrible start to my career. But I knew if I could get over that hump, I could get over anything. And you know what? I’m happy I went through that. It just made me better. Everything happens for a reason.

“I can’t complain or cry about it because what’s done is done. You got to move forward. That’s it. I’m blessed to have that mentality. I’m saying that like it’s really easy; I know it’s not easy. You got to build yourself up mentally to make it easy.”

Farmer’s tale of multiple travails faced and overcome would be fairly standard if all that it involved was the halting start of a pro career that saw him go 4-3-1 and be regarded, if he was regarded at all, as an “opponent.” He had a certain amount of natural talent, that much was obvious, but Farmer – who didn’t start boxing until he was 19 — was being paired with more experienced fighters for short money, a dead-end street from which there often is no escape to something better. Worse, Farmer was beginning to think of himself as a perpetual victim of circumstance, which caused him to do something he would never do today: take shortcuts in training because, hey, once you’re designated for the scrap heap, why dare to believe you can rise above all the negative perceptions?

But early defeats were not the worst of it. In March 2017 he nearly drowned while vacationing in Puerto Rico. A month later, he tore his right biceps, which required surgery, taking much of the luster off the 10-round unanimous decision he scored over Arturo Santos while basically fighting with one good arm. And if all that weren’t enough, in July he was shot through his right hand and was told by a doctor that it was inadvisable that he ever fight again.

The tsunami of misfortune in and out of the ring was compounded when a refocused and fully committed Farmer, who had begun to live the slogan he would turn into a personal mantra, took on Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa for the vacant IBF super featherweight title in Las Vegas on Dec. 9, 2017. The split decision awarded Ogawa was roundly criticized as a great injustice, still another slap to Farmer’s face and an outcome that might have crushed the spirit of a less resilient sort. It hardly seems to matter that the disputed victory for Ogawa was changed to a no-contest after he failed a drug test.

Promoter Lou DiBella, who by that time had taken a flier on Farmer in much the same way that a racetrack bettor plunks money down on a longshot he has a good feeling about, marvels at the way the recent addition to his stable of fighters stared down more disappointment with the same positive attitude that suggested he would again bear down and find a way to overcome.

“I love this kid,” DiBella said of Farmer. “He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever worked with. He has an incredible never-say-die attitude. I would never have believed in Tevin if he hadn’t believed so much in himself.”

Farmer didn’t have to wait long for a chance to make amends for the Ogawa debacle. He journeyed to Sydney, Australia, to take on popular Aussie Billy Dib for the IBF title Ogawa had been obliged to vacate. This time there would be no controversy as Farmer won a one-sided unanimous decision, by scores of 120-107, 119-108 and 118-109. Beaten in his home country from Sydney to Melbourne, Dib promptly announced his retirement.

After successful defenses against James Tennyson (KO5) and Francisco Fonseca (UD12), Farmer again will attempt to hold onto the world title he so cherishes against fellow lefthander Carroll, who claims he will have greater crowd support than the Philly fighter on a St. Patrick’s Day weekend card that is liberally dotted with Irish fighters, most notably 2012 Olympic gold medalist Katie Taylor (12-0, 5 KOs), the women’s WBA and IBF lightweight champion who takes on WBO titlist Rose Volante (14-0, 8 KOs) of Brazil in a unification matchup.

Carroll, whose black beard extends nearly down to his chest and might require a trim before he is allowed into the ring, claims to be unimpressed by Farmer’s inspirational back story or his overwhelming favoritism.

“I feel very confident about this fight,” Carroll said. “Tevin Farmer is a great champion but I’m ready to take that belt off him and be a great champion myself. I want to be Ireland’s next superstar. Winning this fight is what I need to do, and it’s exactly what I will do.”

Farmer smiles at Carroll’s brashness and expressions of confidence. He knows what it’s like to be the underdog, going into another fighter’s backyard to do what a lot of people say can’t be done. But now that he’s reversed that role, he has no intention of switching back again.

“Everybody’s gunning for him,” DiBella said of Farmer-the-target. “He represents their Super Bowl. They’re where he was a year and a half ago, and he knows it.”

So, does Farmer worry that Carroll will go all Never Too Late himself and pull off the upset?

“He can’t beat me, no way, shape or form,” Farmer said. “He’s no competition. I’m just hoping he comes in the best shape possible and gives me a good fight ’cause I’m beating guys too easy and I’m able to get back in the ring two months later. I want to be tested. I called all the champs (other titleholders at 130 are the WBC’s Miguel Berchelt, WBA’s Gervonta Davis and WBO’s Masayuki Ito) and I can’t get a fight with them, so I got to fight the people that’s next.”

Asked what it’s like to now be swimming with the sharks, a brimming-with-confidence Farmer said, “I am the shark.”

What he is, without question, is the busiest world champion in some time, the Carroll bout being his third title contest in four months. Nor is that hectic schedule apt to subside any time soon; Farmer says he hopes to fight six times in 2019, and DiBella and co-promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport hope to provide him with a steady stream of challengers.

Interestingly, Farmer has never heard of another Philly guy, Freddie Pendleton, who traveled a similarly bumpy road from non-relevance to a world title. “Fearless” Freddie was a piddling 12-12-1 through the first 25 fights of his pro career, but he drew the attention of millionaire manager Edward Gersh and he continued to persevere until he won the vacant IBF lightweight title by outpointing Tracy Spann on Jan. 10, 1993.

“I should think there’s a lot of fighters like that,” Hearn said of Pendleton and the more accomplished Farmer, gifted fighters who needed to catch the kind of break that doesn’t always come along. “When Tevin started out, he wasn’t quite the fighter that he turned out to be, but he learned from those early losses and was clever enough to adapt. He obviously had natural ability. It’s really about mindset. His mindset now is phenomenal. A lot of fighters, if they went through what he went through, would have just packed it in or settled for being a journeyman. But Tevin knew he had more to give, and the turnaround has been massive.”

Another fact of the Tevin Farmer story is that, well, it’s such a great story. As is the case with Matchroom America stablemate Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs), the IBF middleweight champion who overcame cancer and takes on WBA/WBC titlist Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) on May 4 in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, Farmer is a survivor who fans find it easy to root for.

“He has a brilliant story and it’s going to get better,” Hearn said. “He’s just scratching the surface right now, as far as where he can be and where he’s going to be. I’m very excited about him. I think he’s an outstanding fighter.”

Bernard Fernandez is the retired boxing writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. He is a five-term former president of the Boxing Writers Association of America, an inductee into the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Atlantic City Boxing Halls of Fame and the recipient of the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence in Boxing Journalism and the Barney Nagler Award for Long and Meritorious Service to Boxing.

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History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

Published

1 day ago

April 2, 2025

Arne K. Lang

History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

This reporter was rummaging around the internet last week when he stumbled on a story in the May 1950 issue of Ebony under the byline of Mike Jacobs. Boxing was then in the doldrums (isn’t it always?) and Jacobs, the most powerful promoter in boxing during the era of Joe Louis, was lassoed by the editors of the magazine to address the question of whether the over-representation of black boxers was killing the sport at the box office.

This hoary premise had been kicking around even before the heyday of Jack Johnson, bubbling forth whenever an important black-on-black fight played to a sea of empty seats as had happened the previous year when Chicago’s Comiskey Park hosted the world heavyweight title fight between Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott.

Jacobs ridiculed the hypothesis – as one could have expected considering the publication in which the story ran – and singled out three “colored” boxers as the best of the current crop of active pugilists: Sugar Ray Robinson, Ike Williams, and Freddie Dawson.

Sugar Ray Robinson? A no-brainer. Skill-wise the greatest of the great. Even those that didn’t follow boxing, would have recognized his name. Ike Williams? Nowhere near as well-known as Robinson, but he was then the reigning lightweight champion, a man destined to go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990.

And Freddie Dawson? If the name doesn’t ring a bell, dear reader, you are not alone. I confess that I too drew a blank. And that triggered a search to learn more about him.

Freddie Dawson had four fights with Ike Williams. All four were staged on Ike’s turf in Philadelphia. Were this not the case, the history books would likely show the series knotted 2-2. Late in his career, Dawson became greatly admired in Australia. But we are jumping ahead of ourselves.

Dawson was born in 1924 in Thomasville, Arkansas, an unincorporated town in the Arkansas Delta. Likely a descendent of slaves who worked in the cotton plantations, he grew up in the so-called Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, the heart of Chicago’s Black Belt.

The first mention of him in the newspapers came in 1941 when he won Chicago’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) featherweight title. In those days, amateur boxing was big in the Windy City, the birthplace of the Golden Gloves. The Catholic Archdiocese, which ran gyms in every parish, and the Chicago Parks Department, were the major incubators.

In his amateur days, he was known as simply Fred Dawson. As a pro, his name often appeared as Freddy Dawson, although Freddie gradually became the more common spelling.

Dawson, who stood five-foot-six and was often described as stocky, made his pro debut on Feb. 1, 1943, at Marigold Gardens. Before the year was out, he had 16 fights under his belt, all in Chicago and all but two at Marigold. (Currently the site of an interdenominational Christian church, Marigold Gardens, on the city’s north side, was Chicago’s most active boxing and wrestling arena from the mid-1930s through the early-1950s. Joe Louis had three of his early fights there and Tony Zale was a fixture there as he climbed the ladder to the world middleweight title.)

The last of these 16 fights was fatal for Dawson’s opponent who collapsed heading back to his corner after the fight was stopped in the 10^th round and died that night at a local hospital from the effects of a brain injury.

Dawson left town after this incident and spent most of the next year in New Orleans where energetic promoter Louis Messina ran twice-weekly shows (Mondays for whites and Fridays for blacks) at the Coliseum, a major stop on boxing’s so-called Chitlin’ Circuit.

That same year, on Sept. 19, 1944, Dawson had his first encounter with Ike Williams. He was winning the fight when Ike knocked him out with a body punch in the fourth round.

The first and last meetings between Dawson and Ike Williams were spaced five years apart. In the interim, Freddie scored his two best wins, stopping Vic Patrick in the twelfth round at Sydney, NSW, and Bernard Docusen in the sixth round in Chicago.

The long-reigning lightweight champion of Australia, Patrick (49-3, 43 KOs) gave the crowd a thrill when he knocked Dawson down for a count of “six” in the penultimate 11^th round, but Dawson returned the favor twice in the final stanza, ending the contest with a punch so harsh that the poor Aussie needed five minutes before he was fit to leave the ring and would spend the night in the hospital as a precaution.

Dawson fought Bernard Docusen before 10,000-plus at Chicago Stadium on Feb. 4, 1949. An 8/5 favorite, Docusen lacked a hard punch, but the New Orleans cutie had suffered only three losses in 66 fights, had never been stopped, and had extended Sugar Ray Robinson the 15-round distance the previous year.

Dawson dismantled him. Docusen managed to get back on his feet after Dawson knocked him down in the sixth, but he was in no condition to continue and the referee waived the fight off. Dawson was then vacillating between the lightweight and welterweight divisions and reporters wondered whether it would be Robinson or Ike Williams when Dawson finally got his well-earned title shot.

Sugar Ray wasn’t in his future. Here are the results of his other matches with Ike Williams:

Dawson-Williams II (Jan. 28, 1946) – The consensus on press row was 7-2-1 or 7-3 for Dawson, but the match was ruled a draw. “[The judges and referee] evidently saw [Williams] land punches that nobody else did,” said the ringside reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Dawson-Williams III (Jan. 26, 1948) – Dawson lost a majority decision. The scores were 6-4, 5-4-1, and 4-4-2. The decision was booed. Ike Williams then held the lightweight title, but this was a non-title fight. (It was tough for an outsider to get a fair shake in Philadelphia, home to Ike Williams’ co-manager Frank “Blinky” Palermo who would go to prison for his duplicitous dealings as a fight facilitator.)

Dawson-Williams IV (Dec. 5, 1949) – This would be Freddie Dawson’s only crack at a world title and he came up short. Ike Williams retained the belt, winning a unanimous decision. The fight was close – 8-7, 8-7, 9-6 – but there was no controversy.

Dawson made three more trips to Australia before his career was finished. On the first of these trips, he knocked out Jack Hassen, successor to Vic Patrick as the lightweight champion of Australia. A 1953 article in the Sydney Sunday Herald bore witness to the esteem in which Dawson was held by boxing fans in Australia: “None of our boxers could withstand his devastating attacks which not only knocked them out but also knocked years off their careers,” said the author. “It is doubtful whether any Australian boxer in any division could have beaten Dawson.”

Dawson had his final fights in the Land Down Under, finishing his career with a record of 103-14-4 while answering the bell for 962 rounds. Following what became his final fight, he had an eye operation in Sydney that was reportedly so intricate that it required a two-week hospital stay. He injured the eye again in Manila while sparring in preparation for a match with the welterweight champion of the Philippines, a match that had to be aborted because of the injury. Dawson then disappeared, by which we mean that he disappeared from the pages of the newspaper archives that allow us to construct these kinds of stories.

What about Freddie Dawson the man? A 1944 story about him said he was an outstanding all-around athlete, “a champion in all athletic undertakings – basketball, baseball, track and even jitterbugging.” A story in a Sydney paper as he was preparing to meet Vic Patrick informs us that he had two young children, ages 2 and 1, owned his own home in Chicago, and drove a two-year-old Cadillac. But beyond these flimsy snippets, Dawson the man remains elusive.

What we learned, however, is that he was one of the most underrated boxers to come down the pike in any era, a borderline Hall of Famer who ought not have fallen through the cracks. Inside the ring, this guy was one tough hombre.

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Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan

Published

5 days ago

March 30, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Ringside-at-the-Fontainebleau-where-Mikaela-Mayer-won-her-Rematch-with-Sandy-Ryan

LAS VEGAS, NV — The first meeting between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan last September at Madison Square Garden was punctuated with drama before the first punch was thrown. When the smoke cleared, Mayer had become a world-title-holder in a second weight class, taking away Ryan’s WBO welterweight belt via a majority decision in a fan-friendly fight.

The rematch tonight at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas was another fan-friendly fight. There were furious exchanges in several rounds and the crowd awarded both gladiators a standing ovation at the finish.

Mayer dominated the first half of the fight and held on to win by a unanimous decision. But Sandy Ryan came on strong beginning in round seven, and although Mayer was the deserving winner, the scores favoring her (98-92 and 97-93 twice) fail to reflect the competitiveness of the match-up. This is the best rivalry in women’s boxing aside from Taylor-Serrano.

Mayer, 34, improved to 21-2 (5). Up next, she hopes, in a unification fight with Lauren Price who outclassed Natasha Jonas earlier this month and currently holds the other meaningful pieces of the 147-pound puzzle. Sandy Ryan, 31, the pride of Derby, England, falls to 7-3-1.

Co-Feature

In his first defense of his WBO world welterweight title (acquired with a brutal knockout of Giovani Santillan after the title was vacated by Terence Crawford), Atlanta’s Brian Norman Jr knocked out Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas in the third round. A three-punch combination climaxed by a short left hook sent Cuevas staggering into a corner post. He got to his feet before referee Thomas Taylor started the count, but Taylor looked in Cuevas’s eyes and didn’t like what he saw and brought the bout to a halt.

The stoppage, which struck some as premature, came with one second remaining in the third stanza.

A second-generation prizefighter (his father was a fringe contender at super middleweight), the 24-year-old Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) is currently boxing’s youngest male title-holder. It was only the second pro loss for Cuevas (27-2-1) whose lone previous defeat had come early in his career in a 6-rounder he lost by split decision.

Other Bouts

In a career-best performance, 27-year-old Brooklyn featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) blasted out Jose Enrique Vivas (23-4) in the third round.

Carrington, who was named the Most Outstanding Boxer at the 2019 U.S. Olympic Trials despite being the lowest-seeded boxer in his weight class, decked Vivas with a right-left combination near the end of the second round. Vivas barely survived the round and was on a short leash when the third stanza began. After 53 seconds of round three, referee Raul Caiz Jr had seen enough and waived it off. Vivas hadn’t previously been stopped.

Cleveland welterweight Tiger Johnson, a Tokyo Olympian, scored a fifth-round stoppage over San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda. Johnson assumed control in the fourth round and sent Castaneda to his knees twice with body punches in the next frame. The second knockdown terminated the match. The official time was 2:00 of round five.

Johnson advanced to 15-0 (7 KOs). Castenada declined to 21-9.

Las Vegas junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) blasted out Stockton, California’s Giovanni Gonzalez in the second round. Vargas brought the bout to a sudden conclusion with a sweeping left hook that knocked Gonzalez out cold. The end came at the 2:00 minute mark of round two.

Gonzalez brought a 20-7-2 record which was misleading as 18 of his fights were in Tijuana where fights are frequently prearranged. However, he wasn’t afraid to trade with Vargas and paid the price.

Emiliano Vargas, with his matinee idol good looks and his boxing pedigree – he is the son of former U.S. Olympian and two-weight world title-holder “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas – is highly marketable and has the potential to be a cross-over star.

Eighteen-year-old Newark bantamweight Emmanuel “Manny” Chance, one of Top Rank’s newest signees, won his pro debut with a four-round decision over So Cal’s Miguel Guzman. Chance won all four rounds on all three cards, but this was no runaway. He left a lot of room for improvement.

There was a long intermission before the co-main and again before the main event, but the tedium was assuaged by a moving video tribute to George Foreman.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

Published

5 days ago

March 29, 2025

David A. Avila

William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

No surprise, once again William Zepeda eked out a win over the clever and resilient Tevin Farmer to remain undefeated and retain a regional lightweight title on Saturday.

There were no knockdowns in this rematch.

The Mexican punching machine Zepeda (33-0, 17 KOs) once more sought to overwhelm Farmer (33-8-1, 9 KOs) with a deluge of blows. This rematch by Golden Boy Promotions took place in the famous beach resort area of Cancun, Mexico.

It was a mere four months ago that both first clashed in Saudi Arabia with their vastly difference styles. This time the tropical setting served as the background which suited Zepeda and his lawnmower assaults. The Mexican fans were pleased.

Nothing changed in their second meeting.

Zepeda revved up the body assault and Farmer moved around casually to his right while fending off the Mexican fighter’s attacks. By the fourth round Zepeda was able to cut off Farmer’s escape routes and targeted the body with punishing shots.

The blows came in bunches.

In the fifth round Zepeda blasted away at Farmer who looked frantic for an escape. The body assault continued with the Mexican fighter pouring it on and Farmer seeming to look ready to quit. When the round ended, he waved off his corner’s appeals to stop.

Zepeda continued to dominate the next few rounds and then Farmer began rallying. At first, he cleverly smothered Zepeda’s body attacks and then began moving and hitting sporadically. It forced the Mexican fighter to pause and figure out the strategy.

Farmer, a Philadelphia fighter, showed resiliency especially when it was revealed he had suffered a hand injury.

During the last three rounds Farmer dug down deep and found ways to score and not get hit. It was Boxing 101 and the Philly fighter made it work.

But too many rounds had been put in the bank by Zepeda. Despite the late rally by Farmer one judge saw it 114-114, but two others scored it 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda who retains his interim lightweight title and place at the top of the WBC rankings.

“I knew he was a difficult fighter. This time he was even more difficult,” said Zepeda.

Farmer was downtrodden about another loss but realistic about the outcome and starting slow.

“But I dominated the last rounds,” said Farmer.

Zepeda shrugged at the similar outcome as their first encounter.

“I’m glad we both put on a great show,” said Zepeda.

Female Flyweight Battle

Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle edged past Texas fighter Marlen Esparza to win their showdown at flyweight by split decision after 10 rounds.

Valle moved up two weight divisions to meet Esparza who was slightly above the weight limit. Both showed off their contrasting styles and world class talent.

Esparza, a former unified flyweight world titlist, stayed in the pocket and was largely successful with well-placed jabs and left hooks. She repeatedly caught Valle in-between her flurries.

The current minimumweight world titlist changed tactics and found more success in the second half of the fight. She forced Esparza to make the first moves and that forced changes that benefited her style.

Neither fighter could take over the fight.

After 10 rounds one judge saw Esparza the winner 96-94, but two others saw Valle the winner 97-93 twice.

Will Valle move up and challenge the current undisputed flyweight world champion Gabriela Fundora? That’s the question.

Valle currently holds the WBC minimumweight world title.

Puerto Rico vs Mexico

Oscar Collazo (12-0, 9 KOs), the WBO, WBA minimumweight titlist, knocked out Mexico’s Edwin Cano (13-3-1, 4 KOs) with a flurry of body shots at 1:12 of the fifth round.

Collazo dominated with a relentless body attack the Mexican fighter could not defend. It was the Puerto Rican fighter’s fifth consecutive title defense.

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