Tevin Farmer is familiar with rebuilding and moving forward towards the goal of a world title belt. 

Having begun his pro career with four losses amongst his first 12 fights, Farmer worked his way to a world title shot and becoming a world titleholder.

After time away from the sport after losing the world title belt, Farmer is compelled to travel the road back to redemption and another world title shot.

Farmer will face Oscar Barajas tonight at the 2300 Arena in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The eight-round bout will stream live on Combat Sports Now (7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT).

At Thursday’s weigh-in, Farmer weighed in at 131.9 pounds. Barajas came in at 133.6 pounds. 

The 33-year-old Farmer (31-5-1 1 No Contest, 6 knockouts) lost the IBF world junior lightweight title belt to Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz in January 2020. Partly due to the pandemic and other issues outside the ring, Farmer did not return to action June 24. In that fight, Farmer dropped Avery Sparrow once en route to a unanimous decision victory. 

Tonight, he will face Barajas (7-8-1, 2 KOs), who resides in Zamora, Mexico and has won his last three fights. On July 9 of last year, Barajas pulled off a major upset win, defeating once-beaten Damon Allen by majority decision.

Farmer cannot necessarily assess whether he is 100 percent ready to fight for a world title belt, but is confident that can happen next year.

“I have to see after this fight,” Farmer told BoxingScene Thursday evening. “I know I’m better than what I was in my last fight (against Sparrow). I will have another fight in December. I’m confident I will be at 100 percent then.”

The contract weight for this fight was 133 pounds, plus one. Farmer is looking to campaign and look for a world title shot at 130 pounds. 

Farmer hopes a solid win over Barajas could move up the rankings and that his fight in December could be for a regional title belt and a higher ranking.

“The win over Avery put me back in the top 15 (rankings),” said Farmer. “We’ll see how this result (tonight) plays out. I’m hoping I could fight for a regional title belt in December, where that could move me to a world title elimination fight. I could become the mandatory and they will have to face me. I believe I could fight for another world title fight.

After winning the vacant IBF world title in August 2018, Farmer made four successful defenses prior to the loss to Diaz. 

There was a rematch clause in the original contract, but a second fight between Farmer and Diaz never materialized. Farmer has moved on and believes fight fans have not seen what he is really capable of. 

“‘JoJo’ caught me on an off-night.” said Farmer. “I don’t need to fight him again. He knew he didn’t want to fight me in the rematch.

“I’m 100 percent a better fighter now than what I was four-five years ago. People have only seen 50-60 percent of what I’m capable of. I can’t wait to show out.”

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since October 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing