Maxi Hughes and Kid Galahad pose with promoter Eddie Hearn and Hughes’ IBO lightweight title. Photo by Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
Kid Galahad v Maxi Hughes: Their names, together on the undercard, sound retro, like they’re Depression-era fighters in an old lightweight bout from days gone by. Unfortunately, with two counter punchers facing off against each other, there was little expectation that this would be a battle for the annals of boxing history.
It was a tough and frustrating fight, with a point deducted from Galahad in the tenth round for a headbutt that cost him dearly on such a close fight card, the official accounts read 114-114, 114-113 and 116-111 for Hughes.
“I was praying to win. For me, I am full of adrenaline, I do not want to speak out of place. I know I started slow, and I know it was probably close, but I’m just listening to my corner,” Hughes asked of the controversial decision. “I’ll tell you one thing: in 17 years of boxing, I’ve never been hit on the sides of the ribs. He’s a cheeky bastard for that. It was the tactics. But I stay composed.”
As promoter Eddie Hearn says of Galahad: “He’s a deceitful customer, a switch. This was a fight that divided opinion. I think he is very close. Someone sent me a message saying that Galahad won, someone sent me a message saying that Maxi won. He rolled the dice, beat him, even though he has a bad cut. And now she can get that big American payday.”
When asked who he would like more for his next fight, Hughes laughs: “Whoever pays more money.”
Given the last-minute cancellation of the Leigh Wood-Mauricio Lara main event, the crowd hardly felt subdued, but grew larger as the fight progressed. Galahad (28-3, 17 KOs) in black shorts and boots, and Maxi Hughes (26-5-2, 5 KOs) in white and blue, like the good guys and bad guys of old, spent much of the fight clinching. and crashing. , fighting and holding. Twice the referee warned Galahad for head butts, leading to an on-and-off brawl where you can practically feel the frustration rising like a miasma of moisture above the ring. In the second round alone, a brawler near the ring shouted accusations of cheating on Galahad.
Initially, Galahad, a switch hitter with a fluttering defensive style, seemed the more composed of the pair, while his opponent Hughes, a southpaw, lunged forward with windmill combinations, with varying degrees of success landing them. Still, Hughes seemed to have more aggression and verve, and in Round 6 he managed to put his combinations together to land some heavy punches, albeit too few and far between for Galahad’s slashing blows.
It was a messy affair, and not entirely uplifting, with the pacing of the fight never quite coming together. If only the rest of the fight was a little more like the beginning of 11: a lively start in which the two opened up to each other and Hughes cut his left eye, before going back to crouch more defensively. It was a cautious evening for both men: neither wanted to risk another loss. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was that the pair embraced at the end of the fight, although that was before the decision was made and Galahad understandably quickly walked out of the ring.
Galahad looked downtrodden when Hughes raised his hand, but for Hughes, his defeat of Galahad puts him in line to make the fights at lightweight he could only have dreamed of before. In a division brimming with live talent, including Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Gervonta Davis and Ryan Davis, it’s a brave new world for Maxi Hughes.
