Boxing
Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer 5y

Maurice Hooker: Have belt, will travel

Boxing

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Maurice Hooker, a smile on his face the whole time, seemed without a care in the world when asked his feelings about defending his junior welterweight world title in his opponent's hometown.

Hooker made the trip from his home in Dallas across the state line to Oklahoma to defend his 140-pound belt for the first time against mandatory challenger Alex Saucedo on the one-fight Top Rank Boxing on ESPN telecast on Friday night (midnight ET, ESPN, with the undercard streaming on ESPN+ beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET) at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

"I'll fight anywhere. Outside your house, in front of your house, in the ring, on the sidewalk. I don't care where I fight as long as I fight," Hooker, with the belt around his waist, said on Wednesday at the final pre-fight news conference. "I'm a fighter. I love to fight. I can outbox him. I can fight you on the inside. Come Friday, we're going to see a good fight."

Indeed, Hooker -- known as "Mighty Mo" -- is fearless of the road. When he got the opportunity to fight for the vacant belt on June 9, he did so in opponent Terry Flanagan's hometown of Manchester, England, and came away with a well-deserved split decision win following a tough fight.

"Maurice went to the lion's den back in June. He's coming here now to Alex's hometown," said Dino Duva of Roc Nation Sports, Hooker's co-promoter with Matchroom Boxing's Eddie Hearn. "I've got great respect for Alex. He seems like a very humble kid. I know he's a tough guy. He's going to give Maurice all he can handle. But Maurice doesn't care where he is. He's going to do his job, and as much as I like Oklahoma, Maurice is going to bring the title back to Cowboy country after this fight."

Hooker went to Manchester because that was where the most money was for the fight. Now he is in Oklahoma City for the same reason. Top Rank, in a surprise, beat Matchroom Boxing in a purse bid to win the right to put on the fight even though its side was entitled to only 25 percent of the winning offer of $1.625 million. That translates to career-high career-high paydays of $1,218,750 for Hooker and $406,250 for Saucedo.

If Hooker could take care of business by going all the way to England to win the title, he's not concerned about being only 200 miles from Dallas.

The result against Flanagan was considered an upset, but Hooker, who has been boxing since he was "about 13 or 14," said he always believed in himself.

"I just stayed focused and stuck to the game plan. I didn't let the crowd or anyone else get in my head," he said. "I really wanted that belt and me and my team did it."

Of the announcement he'd won the title -- the biggest professional moment in the life of any fighter -- Hooker has no recollection.

"I can't remember because my mind went blank. It was a dream come true. Like my body just got weak," said Hooker. "Everything I worked hard for came true. I just knew that he couldn't beat me. I knew I was the better fighter. I was ready. I was in shape and ready, just like I am for this fight. To me, I don't care where I fight. As long as there's a ring, it's my home. I'll fight anywhere."

Saucedo is bidding to become only the second Oklahoma City fighter to win a world title by joining former lightweight titlist Sean O'Grady, who has been on hand this week to help promote the fight.

"Winning a world title in front of my fans will mean the world to me," Saucedo said. "That's something I have been dreaming of since I started boxing, and now that the opportunity is here."

While Hooker has shown respect for Saucedo, he's not impressed by his resume.

"Who have he beat? Who have he fought? He been in wars. He been damaged and he's very young," Hooker said. "I know he's tough, but being tough don't win you the fight. And I know he got heart. And I know he's coming and he's hungry. So I'm ready to let him run into my right hand, my left hook, my left uppercut, right uppercut. He's gonna feel all of them."

Hooker was referring the damage Saucedo took specifically in his last fight. He is coming off a hellacious slugfest in June, also at Chesapeake Energy Arena, when he was hurt, cut and nearly dropped, but ultimately stopped Lenny Zappavigna in a bloody battle that is a clear fight of the year contender.

"I'm surprised that fight got even that tough for him," Hooker said. "I thought that fight should have been a walkover and he should have beat that guy easily. It was just a fight for him to get by to fight me. It was a war. He got hurt against a midget. Come on, man. I'm bigger than that guy. It's gonna be a tough fight for him. Hey, I can beat him in a slugfest, I can outbox him. Anything he can do I can do better. I'm gonna stay on my jab and work from there. Don't blink. It might be a quick stoppage."

Saucedo said the fight with Zappavigna was a learning experience and that he has made the necessary adjustments.

"My last fight in Oklahoma City was a war. I believe I learned a lot in that fight," Saucedo said. "(Trainer Abel Sanchez and I) went back to look at the tape. We learned that I need to use a lot more movements. We saw a lot of things that I need to work on, and we have done so.

"I believe Maurice Hooker is a smart and strong fighter. I have to be smart in the ring. I have to go in there with everything that I know. Maurice Hooker is a champion for a reason. He's a great fighter with a good reach and power in both of his hands. We have a tough fight on our hands, but we will be ready for anything that he brings to the table."

Saucedo also took issue with Hooker's assessment of how much he gets hit.

"He can say what he wants about me getting hit a lot, but I don't have any draws on my record," Saucedo said. "He says I've been hit a lot, but if you have three draws on your record, that means you're not that hard to hit."

Hooker (24-0-3, 16 KOs), 29, and Saucedo (28-0, 18 KOs), 24, come into the fight with familiarity with each other. Not long after they both turned pro in 2011, they sparred with each other.

"We both were young back then. We got better. I got better. He's better. I just got a little more better than him," Hooker said.

Even though Hooker holds the title he said he doesn't yet feel like a world champion.

"Nah, because I don't feel like I'm a world champion yet until I get my first defense," he said. "And come Friday I will be a world champion to myself. I just won the belt. I got to defend it now.

"Look at the greats who went overseas (to win world titles). You got Terence Crawford, you got Timothy Bradley. They went over there (to the United Kingdom) and won the title and they came back to the United States and defended and they turned out to be stars. And I just feel like I'm the next one, so I got to defend my title and I will be a star in the USA in boxing.

"Everything is against me but I'm very confident. I'm relaxed. I'm gonna go out there and do my thing and just shut everybody up."

^ Back to Top ^