William Zepeda and Maxi Hughes will face off on Saturday night on DAZN from Las Vegas in a 12-round lightweight main event.

Zepeda (29-0, 25 KO) is the clear favorite in this fight, but veteran Hughes (26-6-2, 5 KO) has been on a sizzling streak over the past three years and appears to be in line after his victory over George Kambosos Jr in his last performance.

Can Hughes pull off another upset, or will it be William Zepeda’s turn?

Who will win Zepeda vs Hughes?

Scott Christ (6-1)

Zepeda is not a good fit for Hughes. I really don’t think I have much more to say, so luckily there are three other people who can say more and I can write this half-assed concise effort in this matter.

I just don’t see anything that Hughes can do with this guy if Zepeda is as good as I think he is. However, I think that Hughes has a knack for awkwardness; my vision of Criswell is a break that most people don’t think is necessary, even though he’s miles away from fighting and has no path to victory. Zepeda TKO-10

Will Esco (5-2)

It’s difficult to say anything other than that the chips were tilted in Hughes’ favor in that fight with William Zepeda. Regardless of how you watched the Hughes-George Kambosos fight, that fight certainly doesn’t give me any confidence in Hughes’ chances against the younger, stronger, and more confident Zepeda, who was just taking care of business.

Hughes has been broken and stopped before and I think this is a similar scenario where he drops out halfway through the fight. Zepeda TKO-6

John Hansen (6-1)

Outside of maybe Tank Davis, William Zepeda is the absolute worst 135-pound matchup for Maxie Hughes. That said, Hughes is a sharp, seasoned professional, and we’ve already seen JoJo Diaz handle a programmed Zepeda until the final bell. It can be done, and the same things that make Hughes very unlikely to find a path to victory also give him a good chance of going the distance.

Hughes can’t and won’t try to hang with Zepeda. That means we won’t see a fight as close as Zepeda vs. Alvarado, but it also means Hughes shouldn’t end the fight early like Mercito Gesta and Jaime Arboleda. With respect and apologies for what JoJo Diaz may have done in his early 70s Elvis cosplay, Hughes is probably the most tactically complete and cunning opponent Zepeda has ever faced. I don’t think Hughes can stop Zepeda, or even hurt him enough to snail-paced him down. I think Hughes can outlast him. Zepedas UD-12

Patrick Stumberg (6-1)

Hughes is a feel-good story no matter how you slice it. Left for dead after a string of tough domestic defeats, he simply scored nervously after nervously after nervously to fight his way onto the world stage. To be given this chance after that Kambosos squabble is a occasional case of justice and redress in a sport known for leaving the unfortunate to fend for themselves.

This just doesn’t bode well for him.

The problem with Kambosos is that he really isn’t very good at leading. His best skill, which plays so beautifully off of Teofimo Lopez’s worst habits, is his ability to punish overextension with strikes. Hughes’ footwork and timing were excellent at countering, but giving Zepeda that much slack was asking for trouble. “El Camaron” isn’t a raw slum like Jovanni Straffon; he has the skills to hunt down Hughes and do some sedate damage.

This screams “snowball” as Hughes outmaneuvers Zepeda early on, then Zepeda’s volume and body attack snail-paced his feet and force him to endure increasingly brutal combinations in the pocket. Zepeda’s score round after round reaches triple digits by the mid-distance and ultimately secures a finish at the end of the race. Zepeda TKO-10

With Julio Cesar Martinez vs McWilliams Arroyo off the table for good, boxing needed another truly cursed fight to take its place, and it looks like it will be Josh Taylor vs. Jack Catterall 2, as the April 27 clash has been pushed back to May 25 after “The Tartan Tornado” suffered an undisclosed injury.

Mike Coppinger delivered the message earlier today, while Catterall himself (28-1, 13 KOs) he confirmed it an hour later. According to DAZN’s announcement, the Ja’Rico O’Quinn vs. Peter McGrail 2 fight is still airing on that date.

Not counting the months Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) has spent refusing to even joke about the idea of ​​a rematch with Catterall, who beat him in the eyes of virtually every viewer except the two judges in the ring, this marks the third postponement. Sky Sports initially pushed it from February 2023 to March to create some space between him and Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Liam Smith, before Taylor withdrew with a foot injury and fought Teofimo Lopez instead.

Catterall should just tell him to pack sand at this point. Taylor’s stock is at an all-time low after dropping the belts and beefing them up for “The Takeover”; Catterall would be better off using his countless top-five finishes to work his way into another title fight.

However, the sunk cost fallacy may be relevant as Catterall has already rejected the selection of an IBF final eliminator against Richardson Hitchins for a rematch to occur. Let’s hope this is the last delay and we can all get on with our lives.

Ahead of the upcoming fight between Rolando “Rolly” Romero and Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, which will take place on the Keith Thurman vs. Tim Tszyu card, both fighters appeared at a virtual press event where they were asked about the upcoming fight. Check out some of what both had to say below.

Romero will get involved if Cruz’s attacking style gives him a favorable fight

“If you want to come at me and get crushed, that’s fine. Like I said, he can do that stuff with all these little guys with no powers and stuff like that with guys with broken arms and stuff like that, but I’m a substantial boy and I hit the hardest you’ve ever been in the ring with — at least he’ll ever be in the ring with because I’m the strongest guy in my weight class.”

Cruz on Fighting Romero’s Power

“I don’t care. I just do my job, and he’s never fought anyone as aggressive as me.”

Romero on Cruz’s aggressive style

“I find those in Las Vegas all the time, so it’s not that special. He’s just a guy who keeps throwing punches. Honestly, this was probably the easiest sparring match I have ever tried to organize in my life. What I really want to know is how you’re going to find sparring matches for me, because you can’t repeat me. You can recreate him, you can’t recreate me.

Cruz on the potential difficulties he’s had in trying to find a sparring match to emulate Romero

“It’s not challenging at all to find people like him – to spar with what, cowards who don’t really like to fight? I’ll find it everywhere.

Romero on how Cruz called him a coward

“I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that to me before. But like I said, we’ll see who the real coward is on March 30th. Like I said, all I have to do is break him once or twice and then he won’t play anymore.”