William Zepeda, A Fight Away From A Title.
William Zepeda looks like a star. He throws a lot of punches, and has stopped quality opponents.
Now, he is one fight away from a big fight - a title fight.
He fights Maxi Hughes on Saturday on DAZN. A WBA and IBF lightweight eliminator sits in his wake. What does that mean? The winner is the number-one contender for both titles. The IBF title will be contested in Australia when Vasyl Lomachenko faces George Kambosos - it is currently vacant. Gervonta Davis is the WBA lightweight champion.
Hughes is a tough dude. A great fighter and probably should’ve beaten George Kambosos Jnr. in his last fight. The thing that is tough for Hughes - he doesn’t have a ton of power. That might be an issue with a fighter who throws a ton of punches like Zepeda.
Zepeda looks the part of a future world title holder or at the very least a top-notch fighter. This is a very good main event between two - blue-collar hardworking pros.
undercard
The undercard has some interesting names, but none of the match-ups pop off the page.
The co-feature is Floyd ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield. A great puncher, and an interesting lightweight. He faces Esteuri Suero. Suero is ‘best known’ a loss to Starling Castillo. In that fight, Suero lost one point for low blows in round nine and two points for biting in round ten. So - the story of this fight could be about how Schofield handles the rough tactics of Suero.
Middleweight Eric Priest and cruiserweight Tristan Kalkreuth will be deeper on the undercard.
Also, Joel Iriarte of Bakersfield, California, a very good amateur turns pro in a six-round fight on this undercard. He signed with Golden Boy as well.
The undercard is good - but it isn’t one of the more stacked cards of recent memories.
Other Notable Bouts
ProBox TV is back on Wednesday. Radivoje Kalajdzic and Sullivan Barrera will be the main event. It is a battle of two older light heavyweights who hit hard. Barrera is ten years older than ‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic. Barrera is 42, Kalajdzic is 32. The co-main event is outstanding as Luke Santamaria takes on Nicklaus Flaz. Santamaria has been in a lot of tough fights - and done well. Flaz is coming off back-to-back upset wins over Brian Ceballo and Jahi Tucker. Kelvin Davis and Vershaun Lee will be featured in separate bouts.
In Stockton, Gabriel Flores Jr will return to the ring. He fights Julian Rodarte with a form of an WBA title on the line. Also, on the card, Fernando Vargas Jr., Lorenzo Powell and Jessie James Guerrero.
In Redwood City, California, Tommy Hyde will fight for the Celtic title. Petr Khamukov will move up to middleweight to fight Vaughn Alexander, Manuel Jaimes, Vic Pasillas, Jett Blackwell and Brandon McCarthy will also be featured on this card.
Callum Walsh returns this weekend on UFC Fight Pass. Walsh is developing a healthy buzz and the card has some interesting New York fighters on it.
What great cards.
Boxingscene reported that Maxi Hughes was deported; it really messed with his fight preparation. Too bad. Not that it would have made any difference. Zepeda steamrolls Hughes.
You called the Schofield fight. DQ from Suero.
Priest is a middleweight fighting a super welterweight. Goldenboy is letting him develop. He didn't do that well against Simon Madsen.
Kalreuth did the job. I didn't realize it at the time, but the "L" on his record (versus a 10-10-1 41 year old) came from a freak injury. He was 19.
Esparza and the Victor Morales fight were cancelled due to fighters not getting their visas. That makes three fights on the card directly affected by immigration issues.
The guy who lost to the 40 year old Barasso also had immigration issues. That fight was cancelled in December and rescheduled.
What's going on with golden boy?
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Kalajdzic won handily vs Berrera. 41 years old coming off 2 years (?) without a fight.
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It looks like Loeffler is giving Walsh time to develop. His last fight was tough. Walsh does well against fighters who can't take his power.
The rest of the card had an irish bent with St. Patrick's day. Feargal McCrory is basically a regional ticket seller. Joseph Ward might have more potential, but he's 30.
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You missed Queensbury's second "magnificent 7" card.
Local ticket seller Nathan Heaney was given a lot of leeway by the ref versus Brad Pauls. Spits out his mouthguard twice or trice. Allowed him to rest.
I'm guessing the judges awarded the draw to recognise Pauls' efforts in spite of Heaney's favourtism. And a draw allows Heaney to keep the british belt and sell tickets for next time.
Joe Joyce didn't impress after coming in at a career high weight. He got the KO with 20 seconds to go.
Zach Parker Tyron Zeuge was interesting.
Zeuge was smiling and all happy at the weigh in. It reminded me of Khalil Coe's opponent at their weight in. And hinted that Zeuge would lose.
Zeuge also came in 4.5 lbs overweight. Which reminded me of Lyndon Arthurs's argentinian opponent. Suarez.
Like Suarez did to Arthur, Zeuge knock down Parker early. But he was smiling and happy to be there. It was a good pay day for him.
Liam Davies KO'd robles in round 2. He's world level at 122 and will be looking for an inuoe payday. With the Saudi-Queensbury relationship, he might get it.