Tevin Farmer – a world championship in the blood

Tevin Farmer super-featherweight

ITโ€™S in the blood. Tevin Farmer is a direct descendant of Joe Gans, one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. In 1902 Gans became the first native-born black American to win a world title. He is the great great uncle of the new IBF super-featherweight world champion Tevin Farmer.

tevin farmer ancestor joe gans

โ€œI didnโ€™t always, always know but Iโ€™ve known for a long time. I just never brought it up because I felt it wasnโ€™t going to help me, it wasnโ€™t going to make or break me. Now that Iโ€™ve made a name I guess it was okay for me to say it,โ€ Farmer said.

Now he has won a world title himself. โ€œI feel itโ€™s part of my destiny. Thatโ€™s exactly what I feel like.โ€

But achieving that destiny was far from inevitable. Farmer had to rally from defeats, face contentious decisions and come through a long career to reach his championship.

It began inauspiciously with a loss, a stoppage loss no less, in his first fight. โ€œI was beating the guy [Oscar Santana]. I beat the guy every round. The fourth round came, he threw a couple of punches and I didnโ€™t throw back and they stopped me,โ€ Tevin lamented.

Farmer, whoโ€™d had only 16 amateur bouts after beginning boxing at 19, received an early introduction to the harsh realities of boxing. โ€œI didnโ€™t have a team behind me, I didnโ€™t have a promoter, I didnโ€™t have a manager,โ€ he said. โ€œI was just taking fights… One day I said damn Iโ€™ve got to step it up.โ€

His last loss, of four, came against Jose Pedraza, now the WBO lightweight champion, back in 2012. โ€œThatโ€™s a fight I would definitely like to have again. I would move up to 135lbs to fight him,โ€ Farmer adds.

After Pedraza, he would then go on a winning running run that carried him to a world title fight with Kenichi Ogawa, only for the latter to receive a contentious decision. โ€œThere was a lot of disappointment. What can you really do? I just knew that I had to get back in the gym and give it my all. I knew that I would become a world champion if I did that and I did that and became world champion,โ€ Tevin said.

Itย would emerge that Ogawa failed a drug test. Farmer had to turn this to his advantage. โ€œThis is my opportunity,โ€ he thought. โ€œI can get another chance at the world title. This time Iโ€™m going to give it my all.”

โ€œI was always the B side fighter, I was never the A side fighter. The cards have always been stacked against me,” he explained.

โ€œIโ€™ve always been determined. Thatโ€™s why I was able to deal with it. I was determined to be the best.โ€

He had to travel to Australia to fight Billy Dib for the vacant belt. He could not let this slip. โ€œI was comfortable the whole way through. He tried to make it uncomfortable for me but Iโ€™m a veteran. I know what needs to be done to win fights,โ€ Farmer said.

He received a wide unanimous decision, this time in his favour. โ€œI was happy inside but I had this feeling like it was overdue. I knew that I deserved it. It wasnโ€™t as happy as it would have been if Iโ€™d have got it the night I fought Kenichi Ogawa,โ€ Tevin said. โ€œItโ€™s feels good. Iโ€™m feeling good, ready to make my defence.โ€

He will make his first world title defence against Northern Irelandโ€™s James Tennyson in Boston on October 20. โ€œIโ€™m going to make him look stupid like I do everyone else. Make him look stupid, make him look dumb,โ€ he said. โ€œItโ€™s no different.

โ€œI want to fight everybody. However they come. However they come, Iโ€™m taking them.โ€

Farmer concluded, โ€œItโ€™s been hard, it definitely has. A lot of people donโ€™t understand how I did it. I really didnโ€™t think too much of it. I just put the work in.

โ€œI never thought about quitting. I never thought about quitting in my life. I would never quit. If Iโ€™m going to stop doing something or go out, Iโ€™m going to go out on top.โ€

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