(Photo credit: Stacey Verbeek) By Hector Sanchez: Last Saturday, Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (20-0-2, 15 KO’s ) from Dallas, Texas was more than ready for his fight on HBO against Wilfrido Buelvas (17-5, 11 KO’s) from Barranquilla, Colombia. Even though he had to wait longer than normal, he still stayed focused in the gym and it was clearly evident in his debut fight for Roc Nation Sports Entertainment.
Hooker wasted no time in dismantling Buelvas, first by putting him on the canvas early in the first round of this scheduled ten round match, and then finishing him off with a massive body shot at 2:27 of the first round.
Coming into this fight, his team knew that Buelvas was a tough opponent and that he was a southpaw. Even though southpaws bring problems to some fighters, Hooker was not concerned with it. Prior to the fight, he had told NTF “I’m gonna approach him like any other fighter, and try and knock him out.”
His words rang true, and his knockout came four rounds prior to his prediction that it wouldn’t go past five, which was the same prediction as his trainer Vincent Parra. Also, Arnie Verbeek, his manager and the owner of the Maple Avenue Boxing Gym, a premiere boxing club in Dallas, Texas, had told NTF prior to the fight, “Mo has natural power and if Mo approaches this fight smart and follows the game plan, it won’t go past eight rounds.”
Hooker, who is still an undefeated super lightweight and WBO’s seventh ranked super lightweight in the world, has been honing his boxing skills in the ring from sparring sessions in the past with the likes of world champions, such as Ruslan Provodnikov (25-4,18KO’s), Terence Crawford (28-0, 20KO’s), Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33KO’s), who is his stablemate with Roc Nations Sports, and most recently with Antonio Margarito (39-8, 27 KO’s).
As for styles of fighters and comparisons, Mo has been compared to the great Tommy “the Hitman” Hearns by Bernard Hopkins and by NTF, among others, but Parra say’s although that is a great honor to be compared to past champions, at the end of the day, Mighty Mo will be making his own name in the boxing world.
Several days before the fight, Parra expected Mo to be “dominating and decimating, and getting him out of there, and when we see a chink in the armor, we are going for the kill.” His expectations were true and MO found that chink of armor in the very first round.
Parra went on to say “Mo could fight for a title tomorrow or next year, it’s all about circumstances and opportunities and I don’t mind putting Mo in the ring with the best of the world and any fighters at 140 pounds.”
Hooker has been a professional since 2011 and he knocked out his first opponent in his second fight and has added his KO record with fourteen more since then. But that is not all he can do, he is now becoming an all around fighter who can both box and take you out with either hand if you make the slightest mistake.
When asked about his impressions of when he saw Mo get his KO for the first time and what his impressions are now, his manager Arnie Verbeek said “I have always believed in Mo, he is built for this sport, he has natural power, but that is just part of this sport. The mental and discipline aspect of prizefighting is a big part of the game.” Verbeek’s vision for Mo is in the long term and his fighters development, opponent by opponent, which eventually will make him a world champion.
Verbeek, also expects Mo to fight four times this year. He plans on making smart choices for Mo, and eventually wants his fighter to be number one in the WBO. He also wants Mo to develop and get better and better and “When we get that belt, we are going to stay there for a long time.”
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