By Ian S Palmer
Original article; https://www.sportsbetlistings.com/boxing/william-zepeda-vs-maxi-hughes-betting-odds-and-prediction/23036/
Unbeaten William Zepeda of Mexico returns to the ring in a 12-round lightweight tilt against Maxi Hughes of England this Saturday, March 16th. The fight, which is being billed as an IBF/WBA eliminator, from Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Zepeda took care of Mercito Gesta via a sixth-round KO in September in his most recent outing while Hughes dropped a controversial majority decision to former world champion George Kambosos Jr in July and lost his IBO Lightweight Title in the process.
The 27-year-old Zepeda is a southpaw who enters the ring with a perfect mark of 29-0 with 25 big Ko’s. He’s obviously made a name for himself due to his impressive power as he carries around a knockout ratio of 86.2 per cent. He’s boxed 131 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015 following his amateur career which saw him fight in the World Series of Boxing and has fought past six rounds just twice, which came in two of his last four outings against former world champions Rene Alvarado and Joseph Diaz.
Zepeda, who stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69.5-inch reach, stepped up in class in those two fights and beat Diaz by a wide 12-round unanimous decision and Alvarado by a 10-round unanimous nod. His biggest wins before that came against the likes of Jose Fierros, Jesus Zazueta, Jose Rosales and Roberto Ramirez. Since turning pro, Zepeda won the vacant WBA Contintental Americas Lightweight Title in July, 2021 when he stopped Hector Tanajara after six rounds and defended it once by halting John Vincent Moralde in four rounds four months later. He’s also captured the vacant WBF Mexican Lightweight Title and the vacant WBC Fecarbox Silver Lightweight Crown
Hughes is a 34-year-old southpaw from Rossington, Yorkshire with a record of 26-6-2 with just 5 Ko’s and has boxed 243 rounds since making his pro debut in 2010. Both his height and reach are unlisted so we don’t know exactly how he compares to Kambosos size-wise. What we do know though is that he possesses very little in the way of power as just 19.2 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage and he’s halted only one of his last nine opponents.
Since turning pro, Hughes has also won the British Central Area Super Featherweight Title, the WBC International Lightweight Belt and the British lightweight Championship. He won the IBO Crown by beating Jovanni Straffon by 12-round unanimous decision in October, 2021 and defended it against Ryan Walsh by unanimous decision in March, 2022 and Kid Galahad by majority decision seven months later.
Hughes’ losses have come at the hands of Kambosos Jr, Scott Cardle, Martin Ward and Liam Walsh on points and he was stopped by Sam Bowen in eight rounds and Martin Ward after five rounds. The loss to Walsh was for the WBO European Lightweight Title in 2019. His two career draws came against Martin Ward over 10 rounds and Ronnie Clark over four rounds.
Prediction…
Hughes got shafted against Kambosos but Zepeda’s a different kettle of fish as he has tremendous power and just keeps on throwing non-stop punches. Hughes definitely doesn’t have the power to keep Zepeda off of him and Zepeda’s relentless punching will be too much for Hughes. A stoppage win for Zepeda is the most likely scenario this Saturday night.
