William Zepeda vs. Maxi Hughes date, undercard, and preview

This Saturday, William Zepeda(29-0, 25 KOs), of Mexico, and Maxi Hughes(26-6-2, 5KOs), of the U.K., meet in Las Vegas, Nevada in what is understood as an eliminator for the vacant IBF lightweight championship, as well as the WBA(super) world lightweight title that that may or may not be vacant, depending on if you ask the WBA or Abdul “Tank” Wahid.

William Zepeda has come out victorious in all of his 29 bouts so far and has only gone the distance in four of them which is a pretty good indicator of his power and ability. His last trip to the ring, in September of last year, ended in an impressive standing knockout of veteran Mercita Gesta in the 6th round. 

Though he is often overlooked by media when compared to other high profile current and former lightweights, his heavy hands and extremely high offensive output have allowed him to steadily work his way to the top of the division and the entertaining way in which he wins cannot be denied. He is almost the definition of “Mexican style” boxing, eventually overwhelming his opponents and paying plenty of attention to the body, though not lacking in defensive acumen either.

Maxi Hughes has been around for a while fighting the who’s who at and around lightweight at the British and European level, losing some, winning most. He is well-rounded and defensively sound. Fighting almost equally on the front and back foot, his offense is just as well rounded, but can be quite sneaky. His style could be described as “cute”, to use boxing parlance, and has proven difficult to look good against.

In July of 2023 he finally took a trip across the pond to face George Kambosas jr. in Oklahoma for the IBO belt. Unfortunately he came up short in a majority decision according to the judges, though the result was highly controversial. Not one to be disheartened, Hughes comes to America for the second time with the intention of bringing a win home to Yorkshire.