Posted on 03/16/2024
By: Sean Crose
An IBF and WBA lightweight title eliminator between the undefeated, 29-0 William Zepeda and the 26-6-2 Maxie Hughes went down at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday. The scheduled 12 rounder was the main event of a DAZN broadcast card. Both men took to trading jabs in a close opening round before they took to trading trading power shots. The high octane Zepeda turned up the pressure in the second, pushing the action and firing with regularity. By the third, Zepeda was well in control of the fight, driving the action and rapidly breaking his man down.
At the very least, Hughes deserved credit for being brave and game. His face a mess, his body being torn apart by crunching power shots, the Englishman kept fighting the stronger and more skilled Zepeda. At the end of the fourth, however, Hughes’ corner wisely and mercifully called the fight. Although he’s in a red hot division, Zepeda now surely has to be recognized as a force to be reckoned with. The problem is that the man has talent all about him, from Shakur Stevenson, to Vasyl Lomachenko, to George Kambosos. Each of those men might be favored to defeat Zepeda in the ring.
Not that the man doesn’t deserve a shot at some of the biggest names in the division.
*Images: Golden Boy