Tevin Farmer-Francisco Fonseca joins Canelo-Fielding

Artur Beterbiev’s withdrawal from the December 15th Canelo Alvarez-Rocky Fielding card has, as expected, opened the door for Tevin Farmer to step in. The IBF super featherweight champ will make his third appearance in four months against Costa Rica’s Francisco Fonseca.

Fonseca (22-1-1, 16 KO) was an unknown heading into his title shot against Gervonta Davis last year, but gave the overweight champ all he could handle on the Mayweather-McGregor undercard. I had him down by just one round before Davis stopped him via blatant shot to the back of the head.

He’s since scored three straight knockouts over bottom-tier opposition.

Farmer (27-4-1, 6 KO) took a wide decision over Billy Dib in August, winning the title he should have won against Kenichi Ogawa last December. He successfully defended it against James Tennyson in October, battering the Irishman en route to a fifth-round finish.

The Davis connection is obvious, and even Farmer’s promoters point it out. Comparing their respective results against Fonseca is silly, but should provide some good trash talk fodder for one side or the other.

The undercard will also feature David Lemieux against Tureano Johnson, plus Katie Taylor, Yves Ulysse Jr., and Ryan Garcia against TBA.