Before Maxi Hughes lost to William Zepeda, he had arrived in Las Vegas only to be sent home for having the incorrect documentation.
He had to return to England and go back to Las Vegas during fight week in March 2024.
When Hughes boxed Bakhodur Usmonov in Dubai last December, he lost a narrow decision after his coach, Sean O’Hagan, suffered a heart attack the morning of the fight.
Taking a bout in Ireland against Pierce O’Leary with barely a couple of weeks’ notice means there’s little time for anything to go wrong in the buildup for Hughes this time.
“I was saying in gym, it’s nice because you haven’t got six to eight weeks thinking about it and planning it and all that,” Hughes told BoxingScene.
“It’s like, right, I’ve got a couple of training sessions and we’re good to go. I’ve been ticking over, and the week before I went over to Belfast and I had a week of sparring with Colm Murphy, who’s fighting Jono [Carroll] on the undercard. That were good preparation. I’d been sparring with lads in gym, technical stuff, working on stuff and keeping up me running. “I’ve always got that base.”
It is not the first time Hughes has taken late notice work, of course. He won the British title against Paul Hyland as a late replacement.
And Maxi, now 36, enjoys a fight in the blue corner. He is more than familiar with being written off. He is the name that is supposed to gauge the wares of the unbeaten O’Leary. Hughes has been drafted in as a replacement for Portsmouth’s Mark Chamberlain on the undercard of James “Jazza” Dickens vs. Anthony Cacace.
“That’s my life. That’s my career,” he admitted.
“I think for the little period I had with MTK and then Matchroom, I was in the home corner, but yeah, the blue corner, it’s got my name on it, usually. For this fight, certainly there’s no pressure. I’m stepping up in weight. I’ve never boxed at 10 stone [140lbs]. I’m in the away corner. I’m in the lion's den. It’s a sold-out show with Dubliners. So yeah, there’s no pressure on me; only the little bit of pressure I put on myself. I have put a little bit of pressure on myself from the disaster that happened in Dubai. I’m very much looking forward to putting that right.”
Hughes does not have fond memories of Dubai and losing to Usmonov, but he was up on points early on and the fight was close, despite losing his coach to a hospital bed the day of the fight.
With his makeshift corner, Hughes started well but then began to look one-dimensional.
He’s not even watched the fight back since but he feels he was too negative, and the situation with O’Hagan might have played on his mind.
Despite his own thoughts, Hughes has subsequently been told that he did OK and that the fight was closer than he had thought.
But his trainer having a heart attack on the day of the fight was not ideal.
“Hopefully he doesn’t do it again,” Hughes joked ahead of this weekend’s fight at the 3Arena in Dublin.
“In Dubai, the surgeon there did like the emergency procedure and he fitted four stents.
“He did say [to O’Hagan], ‘When you get back home, you will have to go to your doctor.’ He said, ‘Down the left-hand side, there might be one of your main arteries there that needs some attention.’ He’s gone in [to hospital] and NHS [National Health Service] has got him in pretty quick and yeah, he says he feels good now. He’s cut down on smoking, so that’s a positive as well. It’s given him a bit of a scare, so it’s worked out.”
O’Leary represents the 10th unbeaten fighter Hughes has faced in his career. He’s never had it easy, and he has plenty of respect for the latest up-and-comer, even though he’d never expected to face the Irishman.
“I’d seen his fights just from being a boxing fan and hearing his name,” Hughes said. “I’ve seen a couple of his fights, but he was never somebody on the radar, not really anybody was in the weight division above. I were fully focused and concentrated on [the] lightweight division because I thought that’s going to be where my career finishes. But with this kind of opportunity, I thought I’m taking it. We’ve had a little look at him. Sean’s been studying him and we’re confident in my abilities.
“That’s why we took the fight, because we believe we can go over there and upset the applecart. He’s got a very good left hook. That’s his money punch. I think he’s still with [trainer] Joe McNally. I respect Joe as a coach and what they do in that gym. They’re a good team. He’s answered all the right questions, and I will be his biggest fight. I understand that. I think, other than that, maybe Liam Dillon was his biggest fight for the European [title], but you know, Dillon being a super featherweight jumping up two divisions… We’ve seen enough of what we need to see.”
Maxi is 29-8-2 (6 KOs), and the Rossington southpaw veteran believes his experience will be the key in Dublin.
“I’d be daft not to, I’d be daft to go in there and fight his fight rather than fight my fight,” Hughes explained. “That’s what we’ve done in training. Just concentrate on myself, get what sparring we can, a wide variety of sparring partners for this little short camp that we’ve had and do what I do – concentrate on myself.”
And Hughes knows a win over O’Leary will put him right back in the mix, whether he wants to return to 135 or continue at 140. Scalping an 18-0 prospect will do that.
“[Promoter] Frank [Warren] wants the options over me,” said Hughes.
“That’ll be a good thing. Means a couple more fights this year. It’s not a bad thing for me.”
