On Saturday night from the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California, Philly’s Tevin Farmer (20-4-1 5 KO) stopped rugged Colombian Daulis Prescott (30-3 22 KO) with a crushing left hook in the eighth round and continued his rise in the junior lightweight division.
In the first few rounds Farmer, working out of his southpaw stance, set the tone with his speed, movement, and jab. Farmer was keeping Prescott off balance with excellent feints and just missed on a few check hooks while engaging him in a little toe to toe action when needed. Prescott would land a counter shot from time to time but really had a difficult time due to the superior skill set of Farmer.
In the fourth round, Farmer faked a slight bolo punch then followed through with a straight left catching Prescott and dropping him with about thirty seconds to go in the round. Prescott was up at the count of seven and was able to make it out of the round with Farmer in full attack mode.
Showing his smarts, Farmer didn’t go recklessly looking for the stoppage in the fifth but rather took his time to strategically break down his opponent even more landing murderous hooks to the body. Several times in the bout, you can see Farmer’s strong ring I.Q. at work as he made subtle adjustments to whatever Prescott would do, a thinking fighter with skill.
With about a minute left in the sixth, Farmer landed a perfect right cross and appeared to drop Prescott. Rather than beginning his count, Referee Ray Corona began talking to Prescott which was odd until he ruled that Farmer had hit Prescott when he was down. On second look, Prescott wasn’t technically down, he was in a squatting position so the call was a bit ticky-tack. So while Farmer was credited with a knock down, he was deducted a point for the foul. Prescott took Corona up on his offer and milked every bit of the allotted five minutes to the displeasure of the crowd. When they resumed, Farmer attacked a wobbly Prescott to the bell.
Farmer didn’t get careless and try and go for the stoppage in the seventh but continued to execute his gameplan and weaken Prescott.
In the eighth, Farmer backed up Prescott with a relentless attack and landed a crushing left hook less than a minute in dropping Prescott violently to the canvas causing Corona to wave off the fight.
If you foolishly wrote Farmer off after his stoppage loss to Jose Pedraza in 2012, you’d be wise to take another look at a fighter who has reinvented himself. Soon, you will have no choice as Farmer’s talents place him on bigger cards with bigger fights.
Sometimes when you lose, you win. It is about lessons learned through the struggle that prepare you for the journey that lies ahead. At one point early on in Farmers’ career, his record stood at 4-3-1, he made adjustments and won three straight before being stopped by Pedraza.
Since the Pedraza fight in 2012, Farmer has yet to lose, winner of thirteen straight. On Saturday night Farmer displayed skills parallel with some of the top fighters in the game today and continues to get better with every outing, showing a new wrinkle when needed and only on his terms.
As the saying goes, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish and Farmer is in for a sustained run.
Standing-8 