GRADES: WILLIAM ZEPEDA, FLOYD SCHOFIELD, JOE JOYCE, LIAM DAVIES & MORE

By: Jay Calderon

This wasn't a weekend of tremendous fight cards, or tons of action. Rather, we mostly had what we already know simply confirmed by the results.

In Las Vegas, we saw William Zepeda completely dismantle Maxi Hughes, taking one step closer to title opportunities at 135 pounds. We also saw unbeaten Lightweight Floyd Schofield pick up another win against Esteuri Suero.

Over in Birmingham, England, Liam Davies made easy work of Erik Robles, capturing a fringe portion of the title at 122 pounds, and Heavyweight contender Joe Joyce returned to winning ways as well.

So, no real surprises or upsets. Still, grades must be given:
 

WILLIAM ZEPEDA
RESULT: DEF. MAXI HUGHES, 4TKO (LIGHTWEIGHT)
GRADE: A-
The more you watch William Zepeda fight, the more you know he'll never be in a dull fight (if he has anything to say about it). His demolition job against Maxi Hughes was yet another piece of evidence to support such a case.

Zepeda, though never badly hurt, has been buzzed before, and even dropped. He isn't the fastest fighter in the world, nor is William even the hardest puncher (though, he can crack). At times, like many pressure fighters, Zepeda overcommits and can be caught rather clean. He's certainly not perfect.

But Zepeda is relentless. And regardless of any potential drawbacks, you are going to get maximum effort from the Mexican for as long as he's still standing in a fight.

Lightweight is a rather loaded division, with dynamic talent seemingly anywhere you look. And while it's fun to watch Zepeda beat a fighter like Hughes from pillar to post (for everyone not related to Hughes, of course), he will certainly have stiffer tests at the very top of 135 pounds.

Still, Zepeda gives the impression that he's willing to take those risks, both in terms of taking the fights in the first place as well as the needed chances in the fights themselves.

He's fundamentally sound, has solid shot selection and absolutely brutalizes the body. Zepeda, win lose or draw in those big fights down the road, will give anyone at Lightweight hell for as long as he physically can.

MAXI HUGHES
RESULT: LOSS TO WILLIAM ZEPEDA, 4TKO (LIGHTWEIGHT)
GRADE: D
Maxi Hughes, while probably still losing the frame, gave a good account of himself in that opening round against William Zepeda. Unfortunately, it wasn't the rare one round fight, and Hughes was more or less in survival mode for the duration of the bout.

Hughes is a solid domestic level fighter, and has mostly done well when facing his fellow Brits. Maxi also likely should have gotten the nod over former world champion George Kambosos back in July of last year. However, at the top level of the sport, especially in the talented 135 pound division, Hughes is likely to almost always fall short.

Zepeda simply overwhelmed Hughes, who resiliently pushed back as hard as he could. However, Hughes just didn't have enough answers. In fairness, Hughes landed his fsirnshare of shots. The problem was that Hughes' shots bounced off Zepeda, while William's blows were moving Maxi around the ring.

Being a smaller fighter and 34 years of age, one gets the sense that Hughes may be much closer to the end of his career than not. However, with a bit of cache from a couple of prominent fights, Hughes may elect to travel back home for a couple of British-level encounters.

They are much more winnable fights for him at this juncture, and may allow the Doncaster native a chance to make a few quid (I'm so cultured) on the way out.

FLOYD SCHOFIELD
RESULT: DEF.ESTEURI SUERO, 5DQ (LIGHTWEIGHT)
GRADE: B
It's hard to give much of an assessment of Floyd Schofield and his disqualification win over Esteuri Suero on Saturday night. While Floyd showed up looking to get into a fight, Suero seemed eager to find a way out of one.

Still, for as long as the fight lasted, Schofield was landing the better work, and was mostly in control of the action. Outside of the numerous fouls employed by Suero, Schofield was the one dictating terms. Regardless, it wasn't a perfect performance by any stretch of the imagination.

Schofield has quick feet and is explosive, so he looks to nearly sprint forward at times in order to get his quick shots home. At the top level, that's not something you can always do. On the come up against average (or below) competition, that's something he can get away with. When Schofield moves up the ladder, more talented operators are going to make him pay for such potential mistakes.

With decent power and above average speed, Floyd is skilled enough to set his work up a bit more. Schofield doesn't need to load up and look to out everything into every shot. Granted, it's easy to see Schofield wants to impress and make a name for himself. However, it shouldn't be at the expense of his development.

With less than 20 pro bouts and only 21 years of age, there's still plenty of time to develop and mature as a fighter. Still, you hope Schofield can shake some of the less productive traits of his game.

LIAM DAVIES
RESULT: DEF. ERIK ROBLES, 2TKO (JR. FEATHERWEIGHT)
GRADE: A-
Erik Robles is by no means a world-beater. That said, he's a usually tough Mexican (a Brit's kryptonite) and can pop a little bit. That didn't come close to stopping a very determined Liam Davies on the night.

Davies was caught a few more times than you'd like to see, though you understand considering how much he looked to advance in the contest. It's the cost of looking to engage.

On the front foot from the opening bell, Davies pressed forward and threw solid hooks and uppercuts, forcing a retreat out of Robles most of the time. When Robles did manage so offense, Davies mostly handled it with poise, avoided the big stuff, and got back to work.

What I liked about Davies performance was that he showed he can apply pressure and still look to set up his work a bit. He wasn't wasteful with his combinations. That ability will serve him well as he moves up the ranks (and weight classes) in the future.

Certainly not quite the finished article, the win over Robles was a solid step in the right direction and keeps Davies at or near that world level threshold. At 27 years of age with only 16 fights to his credit, Davies still has room to grow.

Looks solid so far.

JOE JOYCE
RESULT: DEF. KASH ALI, 10KO (HEAVYWEIGHT)
GRADE: B-
If you're comparing the win Joe Joyce produced over Kash Ali to his most recent outings -- a pair of knockout losses to Zhilei Zhang -- then "The Juggernaut" looked pretty decent.

Joyce wasn't hurt, which would have been a given before his two shock stoppage losses to Zhang. Joe also dictated the tempo and didn't seem to have any issues keeping said tempo down the stretch. All good signs when considering how poorly he fought against the aforementioned Zhang in April and September of last year.

However, outside of the Zhang vacuum, Joyce still looked a limited fighter that may always face issues at the top of the sport.

Ali (with all due respect) is a limited fighter in his own right. Yet, for the duration of the bout, Kash was able to land hard overhand rights at will. Joyce either didn't care to stop them, or couldn't. Either way, against the elite, that just isn't going to work. It wasn't likely to work before Joyce was stopped, but it's even less likely to lead to success knowing that chin can be dented.

Also worrying was the fact that Joyce came in a staggering 286.5 pounds. Even in the days of giant Heavyweights, that's a concerning number. When you're already a fighter known for being rather slow, that extra weight will do you no good.

At this point, Joyce is a bit too far along to be fixed or changed in any drastic way. Joe has to hope he's matched well, can take the power he will most certainly be hit with, and is able to wear down future foes. Because the "getting better" faze has passed for the 38-year-old.

Still, dropping a bit of weight wouldn't hurt.

LINKS:

- SCHEDULE & ODDS

- RESULTS

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