William Zepeda faces Maxi Hughes in the main event live from The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Saturday, March 16. The 12-round lightweight bout serves as the IBF and WBA title eliminator. At the final pre-fight press conference, the fighters previewed their bout and went face to face.
Unbeaten William Zepeda (29-0, 25 KOs) makes his 2024 ring debut. In his previous outing last September, the 27-year-old Mexican southpaw KO’d Mercito Gesta in the sixth round.
“When I was younger, kids around me would ask when will you fight in Vegas to make fun of me,” William Zepeda said. “Well, now I can answer them. I’m fighting in Vegas this Saturday. I know Maxi Hughes is a great opponent, and that’s why we’re fighting him.”
“And I’m just thankful with my teammates, Carlos Duarte, my team, my father, all my people from Jiquipilco where I trained every single day for this fight. I want to thank Golden Boy, I want to thank Eric and thank everybody for being here. I am ready for everyone in the lightweight division.”
Maxi Hughes (26-6-2, 5 KOs) looks to return to winning ways. The 33-year-old British southpaw dropped a majority decision against George Kambosos Jr last July, which snapped his seven-win streak.
“So very happy to be here,” Maxi Hughes said. “I’m here because of merit. The IBF have ordered me and William to fight, so you know, both of us are here on merit. Because we are the best next people in mind going forward.”
“You know, William, we’ve watched him, we know what he’s about. And we’ve shown him that respect in our preparation. My team down here have put the working day in, day out, and on Saturday night, we’ll get that win and be a step closer to a world title.”
In the co-feature to Zepeda vs Hughes, Austin, Texas-based unbeaten lightweight Floyd Schofield (16-0, 12-KOs) takes on Las Vegas-based Esteuri Suero (13-1, 10 KOs) of Dominican Republic. The bout is scheduled for 10 rounds with Schofield’s WBA International title at stake.