Undefeated punching machine William ‘El Camarón’ Zepeda 30-0 (26) has thrown down the gauntlet to WBC lightweight champion Shakur ‘Fearless’ Stevenson 21-0 (10) following his four round destruction of Maxi Hughes 26-7-20 (5) at the The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.
The 27-year-old Mexican southpaw was as brutal as he was methodical against fellow lefty Hughes, 34, of England. Zepeda overwhelmed Hughes, averaging 102 punches thrown per round and 40 punches landed per round, according to CompuBox.
Hughes gamely tried to match Zepeda’s activity but only averaged 55 punches thrown and 13 landed per round. Zepeda averaged 15 body punches landed per round. Not only was Zepeda active, he landed 46% of his power punches with almost half of them being body shots.
Four rounds was enough to convince Hughes’ corner that their man had taken enough punishment for one night and they withdrew him from battle before the start of the sixth.
“This was another day in the office,” said Zepeda. “Thirty different camps and thirty different wins and all I can do is thank my team. Early on I knew I had him, the strategy was to work the body and finish at the top.
“It is not confidence that I feel, but the weight of responsibility to keep giving this level of performances. The rivals who are at my doorstep are much stronger and have a lot more experience and we must continue to work.
“I will be the next champion from Mexico! I am ready for Shakur, [WBA titleholder] Gervonta [Davis], whoever is ready to face me. I want to be a world champion.”
Zepeda’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya told DAZN’s Chris Mannix that he had one opponent in mind.
“Shakur, if you’re watching, let’s get it on! Let’s go,” the Golden Boy Promotions chief said.
Stevenson was quick to respond to the call out on X, the social media platform formerly knows as Twitter.
“I’m ready in July let’s make it happen, hit my promoter, Oscar,” Stevenson posted.
Hughes admitted the body work from Zepeda troubled him and thanked his team for stopping the fight.
“I really felt the pain from those body shots in round three,” Hughes said to The Ring. “We tried different things, tried to make ourselves smaller. I just couldn’t keep him off me.
“My corner knows me too well. They knew the punishment I was taking and decided to stop the fight.”
Hughes, who lost a disputed majority decision to former unified 135-pound champion George Kambosos Jr 21-2 (10) in his last outing in July, says Zepeda can go all the way despite the depth of the division.
“Lightweight is stacked,” Hughes told The Ring. “But he’s good enough to compete with any of them.”