No respect!

The phrase was coined and made popular by the late great comedian Rodney Dangerfield.

No respect is what Tevin Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) is facing ahead of his rematch against William Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) on Saturday night after nearly beating him the first time they fought in November.

According to DraftKings, Zepeda is a -900 betting favorite and Farmer is a +550 underdog for their WBC interim lightweight title fight in Cancun, Mexico headlining a Golden Boy Promotions card on DAZN.

“I went into the wolves' den to win my first world title. I'm used to this. I've been the underdog my whole career,” Farmer said during a press conference on Thursday. “I never had a big promoter behind me and I had to get it the hard way. And growing up in Philadelphia was the wolves' den itself – and I was the wolf.”

Farmer is used to be counted out in boxing circles. The Ring’s No. 10-rated lightweight started his career 7-4-1 before stringing together 18 consecutive wins en route to becoming a world champion. He won the 130-pound IBF belt in 2018, travelling to Australia to face Billy Dib in his backyard and notched a comfortable unanimous decision. Farmer defended the title four times before dropping a unanimous decision to Joseph Diaz Jr. in 2020.

The 34-year-old southpaw has been cutting it close in his last two contests. Prior to the meeting with Zepeda, in July, Farmer dropped a close unanimous decision to Raymond Muratalla despite going toe-to-toe with the undefeated lightweight contender. Farmer outlanded Muratalla 109 to 106 and was also deducted a point for holding in the bout.

In the Zepeda fight, Farmer scored a fourth-round knockdown and was competitive throughout the 10-round bout but was only able to land a split decision in a losing effort. Two judges had it scored 95-94 for Zepeda, and a third had it 95-94 for Farmer.

Farmer’s efforts, however, spoiled Zepeda’s plans to face WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson in February, which was further derailed because Zepeda also suffered a left arm injury in their fight.

Farmer will have to amplify the activity if he wants to walk away with the win on the Mexican Zepeda’s home soil – Zepeda landed 259 of 778 punches compared to 193 of 587 shots from Farmer in the first fight.

“It was a special fight because they stole the show [in November],” said Golden Boy Promotions founder Oscar De La Hoya. “It was a back-and-forth, teeter totter, evenly-matched fight. They showed incredible skills and we had to do the rematch. There is no way around it. If you want to be the best, you have to fight the best, and the winner of this fight will move on to bigger and better things.”