Tonight at York Hall on the PRIZEFIGHTER card Martin J Ward and Maxi Hughes will battle it out for the right to get a shot at the coverted British super-featherweight title.
Both Ward and Hughes are popular fighters and both belive they have what it takes to pull it off.
“He is an all-round pretty sound pro but he doesn’t have what I have got and I believe I have more than enough in the tank to beat him,” Ward told DAILY SPORT Boxing, who scaled 9st 3 ½lbs today, as did Hughes.
“He is a southpaw. A lot of orthodox fighters struggle with southpaws but I love fighting southpaws. He is not the most elusive of fights. He has a good boxing brain but I am going to be too quick, too sharp and hit too hard for him.
“I haven’t fought any southpaws as a pro but I used to love getting drawn to them. On the GB squad we used to spar southpaws and fight southpaws week in, week out. I used to love it because a backhand was a scoring point and I couldn’t miss them with a backhand.
“I believe I will come on stronger in the later rounds. Tony always trains you hard and over the years he builds an engine which stays inside you and the engine in have for this fight I could do 12 rounds. I will come on stronger later in the fight.
“It could go the distance. I am going to go out there and enjoy it. I am not going in there swinging and punching looking for a big knockout. I will keep my head on my shoulders and go and stick to my advice from Tony in the corner. But if he walks onto one he walks onto one and I have the power to knock him out.”
With Hughes telling DAILY SPORT Boxing “I have seen pretty much every one of his fights just from watching Sky Sports,
“Since I knew I was fighting him I have had a little look, I know how he boxes. He is a good fighter but he hasn’t had a proper step up as of yet. He hasn’t done ten rounds until now and he has had everything his own way.
“He has looked good, done good things and answered the questions asked of him. But I have seen some weaknesses and I plan on exploiting them.
“I have had the one loss to Scotty. That was a good step up in class, I did the ten rounds there and I did ten rounds in my last fight in September. That could be an advantage because he hasn’t done ten rounds yet.
“We had the same opponent for our last fights. The fights were a week apart and he came in for me short notice and came back a week later with black eyes for the Ward fight. He got stopped three seconds from the end. I think he could have carried on, so I am not taking a lot from that. He did hit Ward more than I expected he would. It is a good gauge that our last fights were both against the same person.
“I fully expect a really tough, hard ten rounds. He is quick, he has fast hands, shows a bit of power, but he is a bit too loose. That might be the difference, he might be a bit too loose.
“He is probably the favourite. He has a bigger knockout percentage, he is undefeated and he is at home. I hope it is him who is favourite because it takes a bit of pressure off me and everybody loves an underdog.
“The carrot is dangled with it being a British title eliminator. I think we are both at a stage where and eight or ten round fight for nothing needs something like this. It is a dream of mine to win the Lonsdale Belt so it is a big carrot to be dangled. It is exciting. When I first started boxing I would never have dreamt of being top of the bill in a British title eliminator at York Hall. It is a big deal for me.
“I watched the Liam Walsh fight last week with Gary Sykes. I got offered to fight him when he was Commonwealth champion on the Tyson Fury vs. Dereck Chisora bill in the summer which was called off but the fight fell through.
“I was impressed with Liam. I spar with Gary so I know how good he is and Liam looked really good, but I will be happy to fight him.”
