It was two o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon and Maxi Hughes was out in the garden picking apples that had fallen from his apple tree. It was a difficult and surprisingly physical task, but one person made everything easier thanks to the fact that he had time on his hands and how many apples he would eat when he threw it away. .
With a fight behind and no plans to fight in the future, Hughes can afford to take his time and enjoy ways he can’t before defeating Kid Galahad on September 24. This means he spends his days “planting trees around the garden” before collecting children from school. It also means that he mourns the loss of apples that are too spoiled to be eaten.
“It’s a proper waste because they’re ‘edible’ things, but there’s just too much,” he said. Boxing News. “My aunt was strictly instructed before my fight not to crush an apple because I would eat it if it was in the house. However, since the fight (the match that Hughes won by majority decision), we had a few shredded apples and she made apple puree for our porridge in the morning.
“Also, they just have to get waste. Unfortunately. You must be on it. I have a bench under a tree and if they hit it, it will either fall off them or cause them big bruises. If they stay on the floor for more than a few hours, they may be damaged by the floor, or wasps and bugs clinging to them. If you want to eat them all, you need a net around them.”
Picking apples from the bottom of the garden is something Hughes, 32, does every few years, although it will be the last time because his family is moving soon. “You only get apples every two years,” he explains. “We are in the process of moving house so this will be the last time with the apple tree. We are making the most of them.”
To be fair, a few other boxers will be spending their time this week collecting fallen apples from under their gardens, then surveying them to see if they’re good enough to keep. must throw away. After all, it’s a world of brief attention and one-time usability, in so many ways why a character like Hughes is, so far, almost implicit, prominent, and capable. resonant trend. One who doubts he is, because unlike a lot of his peers, he knows hardship and failure and he knows what it feels like to fall like an apple that no one wants to touch. into, let alone use to create something amazing.
“I started pretty late at 15,” Hughes says of his boxing journey. “I joined it because I was playing the Rugby League, which I really enjoy and is a tough, tough sport that helps me stay fit and healthy. We did two seasons and then pre-season training, just for something different, our coach took us to a boxing gym to work out. I really like it and want to try it”.
At the time Maxi’s mother was working in the Royal Mail’s sorting office in Doncaster and it was there, she told Maxi, she was working with a former boxer who had won the Yorkshire Area. She said if he liked it, she would suggest this man recommend a boxing gym to her son, and Maxi, now obsessed with the idea, said yes, he will such.
“He suggested I go to Doncaster Plantworks,” says Hughes, “which has produced many champions, including Bruce Woodcock. Once I got there, I was hooked. They say I’m natural but I’m not. I just have that fire in me. When parents take their children to boxing, they know if they have that fire in them. When you put in that ring to duel, it’s fight or fly. Lucky for me, I have an instinct to fight under pressure.
“The first time I fought, the red mist came and I had to hit this guy first because he was coming to fight me. That’s what my grandfather always told me as a kid: ‘If you get in trouble at school, make sure you always hit them first.’ It was in my head. I just remember chasing him around the ring, no skills, nothing. Also, because I’m born left-handed, that’s all I’ll use, my left hand. In the end he had to run around the ring to get away from me.
“The next thing I remember is Ken (Blood, coach) saying, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! You are not here to kill him. We are here to box. ‘ He said, ‘Here, look, your right hand. You use it to stab. Do it right.'”
Happy to learn, Hughes did as he was told. He respects Ken Blood and he wants to experience the feeling of a difficult sport made easier.
“Soon after that, he spent some time with me and taught me the style and how to toss and throw a two,” Hughes continued. “I started out as a big boxer and have had a few fights with guys who have the same number of fights as me and am stopping them all with pure aggression. After a few games, he had to play well against me. I remember one day I went to the gym and old Ken said, ‘You should be yourself now because I got you into the championship.’ I said, ‘What is championship? ‘
“The first kid I faced had nine (matches) and won six. He has experience with me. He never hurt me but he just inboxed me and I lost. But it did well for me. It never made me think this sport wasn’t for me. It just makes me say, ‘Yes, how can I get better?’ That’s it for me.
“Since then, I have put together well and done well. I always fight with the top kids. I boxed some guys on the team, like Mark Heffron and Liam Taylor. Both of those players beat me but as a pro, none of my amateurs got the domestic title before I did. That’s what I’m proud of. I have never fought for England, never won a championship, but through hard work and persistence, I succeeded in boxing.”
After an amateur career that saw Hughes win more than he lost, a source of pride for the Yorkshireman, he finally turned professional in 2010. He initially did so with Chris Aston, the coach. from Huddersfield, and it was part of Aston’s steady Hughes that shared many parts with Gary Sykes, the British super featherweight champion.
“Initially, I thought it was a big achievement to just call myself a professional boxer,” Hughes said. “Maybe it wasn’t until a year later, when I had done a lot of games against Gary Sykes, that I thought, I want to be the champion of England like him. Gary has made a decent amount of money and I want some of it. I certainly never thought I would be boxing on television, being signed by major promoters and fighting for world titles. I used to put those people on pedestals.
“I was never confident enough. That was a problem early in my career. I wasn’t confident in my abilities and I paid the price. I used to think, No, that will never be me. I read that only a small percentage of boxers actually make decent money and, without much confidence, I thought, Well, if it were only a small percentage, it wouldn’t include me. I’ll just do what I can and try to enjoy it. “
Wise enough not to expect his career to go smoothly, Hughes, thanks to both his bravery and amateur gaming experience, knows there can be ups and downs. Of course, his only hope is that in the end there will be more success than failures.
“After I beat Sam Bowen in 2018 for the British (super featherweight) title, I gave up,” he said. “I really thought I was going to win that. My wife was pregnant with our first child at the time and I just thought that after we win this British championship we will have a few years of good money. Then obviously that didn’t go my way. I was exhausted. I can’t even access social media because most of the pages I follow are boxing related. I’m fed up with it. Bored with it. Every time I see people around town, they’ll ask me when I’m going to fight next and I just say, ‘I don’t. I’ve done.'”
But he didn’t. Far away from it. In fact, within just two years, Hughes will embark on the best run of form he has managed to date as a professional; the type that many call him “Cinderella Man” and label him as Britain’s most improved fighter.
“Six to eight months later, I think, I’m still only 28 years old, I’ve coached good fighters, champions, and always do well and sometimes do better than them,” he said. “I can’t retire as ‘Almost Man’. I’ve seen them for years and I don’t want it to be me. I don’t want people to mention my name for years to come and say, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s so nice. He almost won a British title. ‘ That’s when I decided to come back.”
His only loss since then was against Liam Walsh in November 2019. That night, Hughes was beaten on points but, importantly, never once felt out of place.
“Liam Walsh was probably the best opponent I faced on paper,” he said. “Liam was unlucky to face ‘Tank’ Davis (Gervonta) in his world championship opportunity (2017). Against anyone else, he will be world champion.
“I remember the ride home that night from York Hall and I remember saying, ‘All I want to do is win a proper domestic title before I retire. That’s all I want.
“Then Covid came along and I was thrown into the end what was a hectic continued battle for Jono Carroll (in August 2020). Self-belief started to emerge thanks to sharing the ring with Liam Walsh and doing well. He’s an exceptional talent and I pushed him pretty close. That turned my confidence.”
Fueled not only by a shock decisive win over Carroll but also by new-found confidence, Hughes received his next hit at a British title in March 2021, this time at lightweight. before Paul Hyland Jnr. It is a fight held behind closed doors, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but one of Hughes, 26-5-2 (5), will eventually win, stopping Hyland Jnr in eight rounds.
“It took Liam Walsh to get me that shot,” Hughes said with a laugh. “He pulled out and retired and after 4 weeks of notice I went in and saved the show. I also fulfilled my dream.
“When I retire, if I never get more done in my career, I can retire happily. I achieved my goal of being the British champion and now I have the extra bonus of winning the IBO belt, contracted by Matchroom, the biggest promotional skin available and the title for one of their programs. I’m proud of it. I did more than I expected.”
No “Near Man”, no “Forgotten Man”, simply “Cinderella Man”, Maxi Hughes will be remembered and admired long after he has retired, there is no doubt about that. And if he doesn’t get the attention and appreciation his form deserves now, it’s like Nick Drake said: “Fame is just a fruit tree, it’s hard to believe, it’s not. can never reproduce, as long as its stock is in the ground. “
