Maxi Hughes secured a unanimous decision over Archie Sharp on Friday night after 12 forgettable rounds across one of the most uneventful fights in Britain this year.

You could count the flashpoints in this encounter on one hand, but it was Hughes who did enough to persuade all three judges he was the winner. One of them, in fact, scored him a 120-108 victor because Sharp threw so few punches in their main event at Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, England.

In Sharp’s last outing, he lost for the first time in his professional career as he dropped a unanimous decision to Ryan Garner down at super featherweight in July. The south Londoner decided to move back up to lightweight for this opportunity.

Hughes, 35, has slowly rebuilt since back-to-back defeats to George Kambosos Jr. and William Zepeda in 2023 and 2024, respectively. His December shutout victory over Gary Cully showed he still has much to offer in the lightweight division, where he remains ranked 13th by the WBC.

Both men knew that their only chance of positioning themselves for a world title shot was to win here, with the WBC silver title on the line. But defeat would send the loser so far down the queue that he could forget about a crack at one of the champions.

Although this victory will not do much for Hughes’ highlight reel, it will do everything to keep his hopes of fighting for a major title alive.

This had been one of the most talked about domestic fights so far in 2025, but after a long build-up basically nothing happened in the first round. Sharp spent most of it holding his lead hand low in an attempt to draw Hughes in, but Hughes refused to take the bait.

It was a similar pattern in rounds two and three, as the fight between orthodox Sharp and southpaw Hughes completely failed to catch fire.

The dearth of action made way for a few landing punches at the start of the fifth round, but it was quickly back to nothingness within 30 seconds. Hughes emerged at the start of the sixth like a man keen to persuade the judges he was trying to force the action but Sharp did enough to stay out of trouble.

Sharp even started doing a Muhammad Ali shuffle with a minute left of the sixth after Hughes landed with a right hand, which was probably the best punch in the first half of the fight. He then put both his hands behind his back towards the end of the round, but Sharp kept his composure and did not rush in.

Hughes followed up that good work with a huge left hand midway through the seventh that stiffened up Sharp’s legs. Hughes spent the rest of the round hunting for a finish, but Sharp did well to clear his head and stay out of trouble. And after that moment of concern, he regrouped well in the seventh.

In the 10th, Hughes landed with another hook-cross combination, which was probably enough to win him the round, given how little happened for the rest of it. It was a similar story in the 11th, as one solid counter right hook from the Yorkshireman was the only noticeable action across the three minutes.

And if the drowsy crowd inside the Keepmoat expected them to finally pick up the pace in the 12th and final round, they were wrong. The final round came and went in almost exactly the same fashion to bring a deeply forgettable fight to a very much-needed conclusion. Both men raised their hands as the final bell rung, but in the eyes of the judges there was only one winner.

Earlier, Hughes’ stablemate Reece Mould lost via split decision to Lewis Sylvester after an entertaining 10 rounds. Before that, Haithem Laamouz claimed a hard-fought unanimous decision after 10 rounds with James Flint in what was probably the fight of the night.