With Devin Haney moving up and vacating the undisputed belts, William Zepeda and Maxi Hughes are set to meet in the ring this weekend in an IBF and WBA title eliminator bout to see who deserves that next title shot.
Zepeda vs. Hughes Picks
- Pick: Zepeda by KO.
Continue reading for the official Zepeda vs Hughes prediction and best bets before you bet on anything on this weekend’s schedule of boxing.
William Zepeda vs Maxi Hughes Information
William Zepeda vs Maxi Hughes
Location of the game: The Chelsea, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Date and Time: March 16, 2024, 11:15 PM ET estimated ring walk
How to Watch: DAZN
Last Fight Results:
Zepeda is coming off a beautiful performance, winning by 6th-round TKO against Mercito Gesta on Mexican Independence Day last year.
Hughes is coming off a title fight losing his IBO lightweight title to the formidable George Kambosos last July.
William Zepeda vs Maxi Hughes Betting Analysis
William Zepeda
Zepeda is a Mexican boxer with a professional record of 29-0, including 25 wins by KO under his belt at only 27 years old. He is currently holding the WBA Continental Americas lightweight title and has been dominant in every single professional fight. Coming from Mexico, there’s not a lot of information on Zepeda’s amateur career or much about his personal life.
Zepeda is listed as a 5’9” southpaw with a 69 ½” reach from San Mateo Atenco. He has an impressive 86% KO rate since making his professional debut in 2015–completing a total of 131 professional rounds already before he turns 28 years old.
Maxi Hughes
Hughes is a British professional boxer with a record of 26-6-2, including 5 wins by KO. He held the IBO lightweight title from 2021 to 2023, along with the British lightweight title–among many more regional titles.
Hughes is coming off a fight where he seemingly out-boxed a world-level talent in Kambosos, but didn’t get the win. This might be the most dangerous he has ever been with that confidence, or it will be hard for him to come back from that at age 34. He’s listed as a 5’7” southpaw with a 67” reach. Hughes has completed a total of 243 professional rounds since making his debut in 2010.
Updates
There are no injuries reported to DAZN or The Ring.
William Zepeda vs Maxi Hughes Betting Preview
The Zepeda vs Hughes prediction needs to be made carefully. The odds are clearly in favor of one fighter, but this is an interesting matchup. The betting lines and film on both guys will give us the answers we need.
Starting with the boxing odds, Zepeda is coming in as the big -1000 betting favorite over the +630 underdog. This bout is favored to end inside the distance at -400 as well, even though Hughes only has 5 KOs in his career–this shows how much oddsmakers favor Zepeda.
Stylistically, this is a matchup between a man who wants to be in someone’s face with lots of power against a man who wants to fight in as much space as possible.
Zepeda is a machine in the ring. He has incredible conditioning, arguably one of the best in the sport, and has legit power in both hands. He tends to break his opponents down as the rounds go by with constant pressure and power shots to the body.
Hughes is a slick boxer who moves around the ring very well, looks for counters, and tries to outsmart his opponents. He’s also a true fighter. He’s been knocked out, lost 6 times in his career, and still finds himself one fight away from a world title shot.
William Zepeda vs Maxi Hughes Best Bets and Prediction
The official Zepeda vs Hughes prediction is that Zepeda will win this fight via KO in the later rounds. This is a tough test for him, and a perfect one to go through before he reaches the world-class guys at lightweight.
Hughes will make it difficult for him to find the mark early by moving around nicely in the ring. Kambosos struggled and arguably lost that fight against Hughes last summer because he was chasing him; Zepeda needs to cut the ring off and really think about what he’s trying to do in the ring to beat Hughes.
Ultimately, you can’t bet against Zepeda in this one. He’s going to be relentless with his pressure and has power that lasts all 12 rounds with ease. He will slowly break Hughes down to the body and finish the job in the later rounds.
- Pick: Zepeda by KO.
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