Trainer Jay ‘Panda’ Najar Talks Having, William Zepeda, Subriel Matias & More

Moments after the press conference hosted by Golden Boy Promotions to formally announce William Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs) vs Giovanni Cabrera (22-1, 7 KOs) on July 6, FightsATW caught up with Zepeda’s trainer Jay ‘Panda’ Najar.

Najar trains Zepeda and IBF junior welterweight champion Subriel Matias (20-1, 20 KOs). It’s not a coincidence that both fighters have a relentless style that overwhelms their opponents, and it’s led by Panda, who trains them out in the high-elevation mountains of Mexico. “It’s a blessing to have two of the most feared fighters in their weight class,” said Panda. “It’s a good feeling and good energy.”

With two high-volume punchers like Zepeda and Matias working together, fans wondered if they ever shared the ring in a sparring session. When asked, Panda went back to the time they did and shared his thoughts on the session.

“I try not to put them together as they are high-volume punchers. William (Zepeda) helped (Subriel) Matias when he fought (Batyrzhan) Jukembayev (May, 2021). The training camp was ten weeks in Puerto Rico, and I promised myself never to put them to spar with each other again (smerks).

Preparing for Cabrera & Sanctioning Bodies

On July 6, Zepeda faces Cabrera, and preparing for this fight won’t be easy as Cabrera has a tricky style. It upset fans when he faced Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz in July 2023, as the fight was far from entertaining. Even though Cabrera scored a late knockdown, everything leading up to that was far from exciting.

Panda knows that there is always the possibility that Cabrera will try to do the same against Zepeda, so he will prepare his fighter for that style as well. Panda told FightsATW, “First, we prepare him mentally for a fighter who might not bring any action. He may throw 1-2 punches, move and hold. I saw the height now (at the press conference), and they are about the same height, so that’s not going to be an issue. When you have someone like William Zepeda, he makes the other fighter have to fight or at least try to. This is going to be a good fight.”

With regard to a third fight this year, Panda first has to see how his fighter emerges from the July fight. Being a high-volume fighter, Panda feels Zepeda needs rest. Although the July fight is only four months after his last fight, Panda said they all agreed to do it as a team and that the goal would be to get a third fight in before the end of the year.

Although fans have grown frustrated with Zepeda’s lack of big fights, Panda assures everyone that he and his team share the frustration. It’s not on Golden Boy Promotions that Zepeda has mentioned they have told him to be patient and that the big fights will come, it’s more about the sanctioning bodies.

“It’s hard for all of us. It gets frustrating when we get promised things by organizations when they say the next one or the next one and having to pay organization fees for eliminators, etc. This message is more for the organizations: Get serious. This is a serious fighter (Zepeda) who has proved himself to be here. He’s never ran from a fighter and is a good human being.”

Panda has a busy two months ahead as he prepares his junior welterweight champion Matias for a June 15 fight and his lightweight contender for his on July 6. If both are successful and successful in a big fight at the end of the year, Panda will certainly be in the running for Trainer of the Year.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

See author's posts