LESS than two months after outscoring Dubliner Jono Carroll to secure his best career success to date, Rossington lightweight Maxi Hughes was back in action. He swapped the miserable weather in South Yorkshire for the UAE, where at Caesars Palace in Dubai on Friday (October 9) he triumphed once more over 10, a unanimous points victory coming his way against previously unbeaten Kazakh Viktor Kotochigov.
There was little to separate the pair in the opener but
Kotochigov, with 12 victories already in the bag, was maybe a little bit busier
in the second half of the round. Any early confidence though was checked in the
next when hot on the heels of a straight shot, southpaw Maxi whipped in a left
uppercut to leave the Kazakh a touch unsteady and another left a minute or so
later had a similar effect.
Confidence growing, and with Kotochigov still looking somewhat
nonplussed, Maxi really began to turn the screw in the third. After twice tagging
him he sent Viktor to the seat of his shorts with another left uppercut.
The Kazakh, having walked onto the shot, made as if to rise
immediately but quickly thought better of it and instead took a knee while Spanish
referee Francisco Alloza Rosa counted before rejoining the affray.
Breakthrough made, there was no let up from Hughes on the
resumption. Following a particularly sustained spell of pressure, it
momentarily looked as if the third man might just have decided that enough was
enough but his brief intervention, with the bell approaching, was perhaps just a
reaction to the ten seconds remaining signal. Nonetheless, it was as confusing
as it was unnecessary and it probably saved the under fire Kotochigov from
being halted.
A straight left in the fourth emphasised Maxi’s growing
authority though he wasn’t particularly helped by the fact that during that
session he almost lost his footing after slipping on a patch of water in his
opponent’s corner.
Though behind and with a growing swelling on his cheekbone, Viktor
did make a better fist of it in the second half of the contest and scored with
a decent right in the sixth. Overall, Maxi’s early superiority, coupled with
that knockdown, meant that the fair-haired man from Almaty was always playing
catch-up.
The Spanish referee scored 96-93 for Maxi at the finish while
the two judges scored 97-92 and 95-94.
Liverpool southpaw Blane Hyland, a distance winner in his first three paid contests, came off second best in his maiden outing over six with oft-wild Dubai-based Mohamed Salah Abdelghany deservedly picking up a unanimous points win.
The 30-year-old Egyptian might not score particularly highly
for style but his pressing tactics proved effective and though a fair percentage
of what he threw fell either wide or short of its intended target, enough hit
home for him to register something of a surprise win against the former
Salisbury ABC amateur.
After remaining on the offensive for the majority of the
opener Abdelghany enjoyed his best spell early in the next when having begun
with a left upstairs he forced Blane to the ropes, clattering him with a trio
of rights to make the Liverpudlian’s knees dip momentarily and to leave him
holding.
There were no more major alarms for Hyland who as well as
landing a couple of decent left uppercuts often countered after the off-balance
Abdelghany missed. The terrier-like local puncher just kept coming though: A
fine right cross late in the fourth and two more heavy rights in the next meant
that Blane needed to find something special down the straight. He did come out
swinging and with deft footwork ensured that there was plenty more missing from
Mohamed but the result, which took an age to be announced, came as no surprise.
Scores at the finish read 58-56 twice and a closer 58-57, all in favour of the
shorter Abdelghany.
The Verdict Maxi marches on but Hyland was left disappointed.