Tevin Farmer discusses controversial loss in recent title fight

Since losing his first shot at a world title in highly controversial fashion, junior lightweight Tevin Farmer (25-5-1) spoke to FightHype about his thoughts on the decision and where his mind is at now that he has to go back to the drawing board.

For any of you who didn’t get a chance to see the fight, Farmer took on Kenichi Ogawa earlier this month on HBO for the vacant IBF junior lightweight title. And while Farmer appeared to clearly win the fight on points (something the punch stats would also indicate), the judges came back with a split decision win for Ogawa.

So speaking with Percy Crawford over at FightHype, Farmer was asked about his feelings on the fight. Farmer would understandably admit that he was both shocked and saddened by the judges decision, but takes some solace in believing that he handled Ogawa at only 40% of himself as he was coming back from two injuries [Farmer suffered both a torn bicep and later a gunshot wound to his hand].

Farmer continued by saying that he wants a rematch Ogawa above all, and also mentions that he’s been taken aback by the amount of support he’s received from fans over the poor decision.

“People are saying they would have lost it and one part of me felt that way and it will make you want to do it, but at the end of the day, this is just a sport and I have a life after that. You still gotta carry yourself in the right way because you still got people looking at you. The sport is only temporary. You got other business people that may want to invest in you on other routes outside of the sport, so you always gotta keep yourself grounded and on the straight path. But I do want to thank all of my supporters and fans because they pressed the issue. I talked to the IBF 2 days ago and they got thousands and thousands of emails and calls from fans. For fans to back you like that, that says a lot because fans don’t really do that. I feel the love, man. I feel like I have grown in the sport and I feel like the uncrowned champion...”

If Farmer is able to land a rematch with Ogawa, he says he’d be willing to take the fight as soon as February or March, and insists that with even more time to heal he’ll put on an even more dominant performance in the sequel.