DUBAI, UAE – Tajikistan’s Bakhdour Usmonov would not be drawn into a verbal exchange with Maxi Hughes ahead of their important lightweight clash in Dubai on Friday.
They will fight at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium on the big IBA promotion topped by Kubrat Pulev’s heavyweight contest with Murat Gassiev.
“I’m not going to talk a lot,” said the 11-0 (5 KOs) Usmonov. “Thanks to everyone, I will do my best to show good boxing.”
Hughes, answering a question from the media, said he felt he could expose the unbeaten prospect.
“He’s what we say in the UK chinny; a bit fragile around the whiskers,” the veteran Englishman said.
Usmonov, asked to counter, merely replied: “I respect him but the ring will show everything.”
Usmonov and Hughes, 35, also share a bill with US heavyweight Stanley Wright and Nico Ali Walsh, who said he was “looking to continually grow as a fighter”.
Hughes, 29-7-2 (6KOs), added: “I had a couple of options with the fights I could choose. I was mandatory for the European title and there were a couple of fights in the US but this made the most sense.”
Hughes said that was looking to chase one of the four major belts.
“We’re more than ready for what’s to come on Friday night,” he said. “We’ve studied Usmonov, good amateur, but that doesn’t always translate to a good pro. You can’t buy, borrow or steal experience and I’ve got it. I’m the away fighter here but that’s what fires me up. That’s what makes me think I’m going to come over here and show these boys and I’m very confident for Friday night.”
When asked for a prediction, Hughes said he was keen to take matters out of the judges’ hands.
“Just a Maxi Hughes win,” he said. “I’ve been scarred before – what happened in Oklahoma against George Kambosos [Jnr, when Hughes lost a controversial decision]. I stood him on his head and they took it away from me. I’m a big underdog. I don’t know how. That’s more pressure to him. I just need to show up and do what I do.”
