NEW YORK — William Zepeda respects Shakur Stevenson’s intelligence in the ring, his defensive prowess and ability to box effectively from the outside.

The Mexican southpaw is just as sure Stevenson doesn’t possess Tevin Farmer’s fortitude, the type of determination that made him fight a more powerful puncher on the inside at times during their two competitive lightweight bouts. Philadelphia’s Farmer has knocked out only 19 percent of his opponents as a professional, yet that didn’t prohibit him from trading with Zepeda, who was dropped in the fourth round of their first fight Nov. 16 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Farmer’s feistiness led to a more difficult fight than Zepeda expected six months ago. Zepeda nevertheless recovered from the knockdown and won their 10-round bout by split decision.

The undefeated Zepeda won their second bout, a 12-rounder, more comfortably. His majority points victory over Farmer (33-8-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC) in their second match March 29 at Poliforum Benito Juarez in Cancun, Mexico, enabled Zepeda to win the WBC interim 135-pound championship.

Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs), the WBC’s mandatory challenger, will face Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) for the three-division champion’s WBC lightweight title in another 12-rounder July 12 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens.

“Shakur has an incredible IQ,” Zepeda told The Ring before a press conference Thursday at Palladium Times Square. “But I don’t feel Shakur has the balls that Tevin Farmer has. Tevin Farmer will stand there and fight with you. When Shakur feels my punches, he’s not gonna be like Farmer and stay there and exchange with me.”

The 27-year-old Stevenson, motivated by criticism of his often-defensive style, has repeatedly stated he will produce more entertainment versus Zepeda than he did during points wins over Edwin De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs) and Artem Harutyunyan (12-2, 7 KOs). Zepeda has an aggressive approach that will help him do that.

Zepeda still anticipates having to cut off the ring against Stevenson, which wasn’t usually an issue for him in 22 rounds against Farmer, a former IBF junior lightweight champion who is seven years older than Stevenson.

“We knew that Farmer was like that,” Zepeda said. “We saw him with [Raymond] Muratalla. We saw him in other fights, with Jono Carroll. We saw him stand and exchange with fighters. And we knew that he was not gonna let anyone bully him around.”

Zepeda’s power didn’t deter DraftKings from listing Stevenson, a southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, as an 11-1 favorite to defeat him in one of four-pay-per-view fights on “Ring III,” The Ring’s third card in the past 2½ months.

Stevenson stopped England’s Josh Padley (16-1, 5 KOs), a late replacement for Floyd Schofield Jr. (18-0, 12 KOs), in the ninth round his most recent action Feb. 22 on the Dmitry Bivol-Artur Beterbiev undercard at ANB Arena.

The Ring most recently ranked Stevenson as its No. 3 contender in the lightweight division, one spot above Zepeda.

Baltimore’s Gervonta Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs), the WBA champion, is ranked No. 1 by The Ring in the 135-pound division and WBO champ Keyshawn Davis (13-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC), of Norfolk, Virginia, is No. 2. The Ring’s lightweight title is vacant.