One other struggle, one other William Zepeda beat down.
The unbeaten 135-pound contender pounded overmatched Maxi Hughes relentlessly till the Briton’s cornermen lastly stopped the struggle after 4 rounds of a two-sanctioning physique title eliminator Saturday at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs) and Hughes (26-7-2, 5 KOs) fought on roughly even phrases within the first spherical however it was all Zepeda after that.
The quantity-punching southpaw from Mexico didn’t permit his overmatched opponent room to breathe, throwing 408 punches (102 per spherical) — lots of them to the physique — within the 4 rounds.
And Hughes might do nothing to cease him, a minimum of partially as a result of he didn’t have the punching energy to show the tide.
Hughes started to wilt as early as Spherical 2 and continued to take brutal punishment till the ultimate moments of Spherical 4, after which his handlers knew he was completed.
“Thirty completely different camps, 30 completely different wins,” Zepeda mentioned afterward. “All I can do is thank my camp, thank all people. And let’s preserve it going.”
Zepeda is ranked No. 1 by the WBA and WBC, whose champions are Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson. His victory on Saturday solidifies his place as obligatory challenger in each organizations.
In the meantime, Vasiliy Lomachenko will face George Kambosos Jr. for the vacant IBF title on Could 12. Zepeda is ranked No. 6 by the IBF.
Davis, Stevenson and Lomachenko are three of essentially the most gifted fighters in the present day. Nevertheless, Zepeda seems to be an increasing number of of a risk to anybody each time he fights.
He is aware of what it might take to succeed in opposition to fighters like that.
“We all know whoever is forward of us, they’ve plenty of expertise. We simply should preserve working,” he mentioned. “… I’m prepared for Shakur, for Gervonta, I’m prepared for whoever is on that checklist.”
And he served up a daring prediction, describing himself as, “The subsequent champion from Mexico.”
Nobody who has watched Zepeda struggle would take exception to that prognostication.
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