In an impressive performance, lightweight contender William Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs) defeated Maxi Hughes (26-7-2, 5 KOs) by a fourth-round TKO on Saturday night in their headliner at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Nevada. Hughes’ corner pulled the plug on the fight at the end of round four.
“Attack him when he gives us the chance. Don’t overdo it because he could be dangerous,” said Zepeda after the fight on his plan for the fight. “I am ready for Shakur and Gervonta. Now, Oscar De La Hoya has to do the homework.
“We believe in William; he’s ready for anybody. We’ll call out whoever wants to fight William. I’d love to put him in with Shakur Stevenson. We’d love Kambosos vs. Lomachenko winner. William Zepeda is ready for anybody,” said promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
The explosive lightweight contender Floyd Schofield (17-0, 12 KOs) looked like pure 24K gold tonight, beating the powerful but dirty Eteuri Suero (13-2, 10 KOs) by a fifth-round disqualification. The time of the stoppage was at 2:07 of round five.
The referee docked Suero, 30, points in rounds two and four for picking off the ground. In the second, Suero threw ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield to the canvas after picking him up.
Schofield was cut in round two when he lunged in, colliding heads with Suero. A deep cut was opened over Schofield’s right eye. Kid Austin Schofield hurt Suero with blinding, fast left hooks in rounds one, two, and four.
Suero showed excellent punching power with his right hand, but he couldn’t take Schofield’s left hooks, which he was hitting him with. More importantly, Suergo couldn’t control his temper, and kept fouling Schofield repeatedly. Besides the two deductions, Suero threw low blows, rabbit punches, used headlocks, and repeatedly picked Schofield up.
Middleweight prospect Eric Priest (13-0, 8 KOs) outworked veteran Jose Sanchez (21-5-1, 12 KOs), winning a ten-round unanimous decision. Priest, 25, took advantage of his superior hand speed to outland the slower but more powerful Sanchez.
In the championship rounds, Sanchez connected with some big punches, taking advantage of the predictability of Priest and his habit of throwing combinations. Priest took the punches well, but his face looked reddened and swollen. The judges’ scores were 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91.
Zepeda and Hughes are vying for an opportunity to fight for a world title against one of the champions.
Both obviously are hoping to fight WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, but given how selective his management at PBC are with him, that’s not realistic.