William Zepeda and Maxi Hughes sq. off Saturday evening on DAZN from Las Vegas in a 12-round light-weight essential occasion.
Zepeda (29-0, 25 KO) is a transparent favourite within the combat, however the veteran Hughes (26-6-2, 5 KO) has been on an excellent run for the final three-plus years, and a few really feel ought to be coming off of a win over George Kambosos Jr in his most up-to-date outing.
Can Hughes pull one other upset, or does the rail finish at William Zepeda?
Who wins Zepeda vs Hughes?
Scott Christ (6-1)
Zepeda is all mistaken for Hughes. I actually don’t assume there’s even an entire lot extra to say, so fortunately there are three different individuals to say extra, and I can put on this half-assed succinct effort on this one.
I simply don’t see something Hughes can do with this man if Zepeda’s pretty much as good as I believe he’s. However I do assume Hughes has the craft to hold round; my Criswell imaginative and prescient is a stoppage most individuals don’t assume wanted to be one, although he’s miles out of the combat with no path to victory. Zepeda TKO-10
Wil Esco (5-2)
It’s onerous to say something apart from all the chips gave the impression to be stacked in opposition to Hughes’ favor on this matchup in opposition to William Zepeda. Nonetheless you considered Hughes combat with George Kambosos, that combat definitely doesn’t give me any confidence in Hughes’ probabilities to go up in opposition to a youthful, stronger and extra assured Zepeda who’s simply been taking good care of enterprise.
Hughes has been damaged down and stopped earlier than, and I see that as an analogous situation the place he’s out of there by the mid-point within the combat. Zepeda TKO-6
John Hansen (6-1)
Apart from perhaps Tank Davis, William Zepeda is absolutely the worst model matchup at 135 kilos for Maxi Hughes. That stated, Hughes is a savvy, skilled professional, and we’ve already seen JoJo Diaz navigate a dialed-in Zepeda all over to a remaining bell. It may be executed, and the identical issues that make Hughes extremely unlikely to discover a path to victory additionally give him a powerful probability to final the space.
Hughes can’t, and received’t attempt to, cling in and bang with Zepeda. Which means we received’t get a energetic combat like Zepeda vs Alvarado, however it additionally means Hughes shouldn’t get completed early like Mercito Gesta and Jaime Arboleda. With respect and apologies to what JoJo Diaz may do in his early days of Nineteen Seventies Elvis cosplay, Hughes is arguably probably the most tactically full and artful opponent Zepeda has ever confronted. I don’t assume Hughes can cease Zepeda, and even harm him sufficient to sluggish him down. I do assume Hughes can survive him. Zepeda UD-12
Patrick Stumberg (6-1)
Hughes’ is a feel-good story regardless of the way you slice it. Left for lifeless after a few tough home losses, he simply stored scoring upset after upset after upset to work his approach onto the world stage. Him getting this chance after that screwjob in opposition to Kambosos is a uncommon case of justice and reparation in a sport infamous for leaving its unfortunates within the lurch.
It’s simply not going to go nicely for him.
The factor with Kambosos is that he’s actually not that good on the lead. His finest talent, the one which meshed so fantastically with Teofimo Lopez’s worst habits, is his capability to punish overextension with flurries. Hughes’ footwork and timing have been an ideal counter, however giving Zepeda that sort of slack is simply asking for bother. “El Camaron” isn’t a uncooked slugger like Jovanni Straffon; he’s received the talents to hunt Hughes down and do severe harm.
This screams “snowball,” with Hughes outmaneuvering Zepeda within the early going earlier than Zepeda’s quantity and physique assault sluggish his ft and pressure him to climate more and more brutal combos within the pocket. Zepeda’s round-by-round output hits the triple digits across the halfway level and finally secures the end close to the top. Zepeda TKO-10
