Written by Hector Sanchez / Photos by Stacey Verbeek
Super Lightweight champion Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (21-0-2, 16 KO’s) from Dallas, Texas returned to Oakland and rocked Ty Barnett (23-5-1, 15 KO’s) with a stiff right hand in the opening moments of the first round to the thunderous applause and excitement of the boxing fans in attendance at the ROC NATION/HBO fight card at Oracle Arena this past Saturday night.
By Hector Sanchez / Photos By Stacey Verbeek: Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (20-0-2, 15 KO’S) from Dallas, Texas is ranked in the top ten by the WBO as a junior welterweight. On Saturday, August 6, 2016 he returns to the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California to showcase his exciting brand of boxing against Ty Barnett (23-4-1, 15 KO’s) on the undercard of the HBO Andre Ward/ Alexander Brand championship fight
His first fight at the Oracle Arena was in March of this year where he made his debut fight with Roc Nation against Wilfrido Buelvas (17-5, 3 KO’s). Although his camp probably wanted more rounds, Mighty Mo wasted no time by taking out the southpaw Buelvas in explosive fashion with a crushing body shot in the first round.
As impressive as he is with his boxing skills in the ring, Mighty Mo is just as impressive outside the ring. At his home gym at the Maple Avenue Boxing Gym in Dallas, Texas, Hooker is always helping out the young fighters by offering them advice in boxing, showing them his accomplishments, but also mentoring them to stay in school so they can give back to the community themselves some day.
(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.”
by Hector Sanchez – It has been over a year since undefeated Light Welterweight Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (16-0-2, 12 KO’s) from Dallas, Texas has stepped into the ring in his hometown of Dallas, Texas. He came back to the circled square after stopping his last two opponents in the first round to continue his climb in the ranks of the welterweight division. Fighting out of the Maple Avenue Boxing Gym in Dallas, Texas, Mighty Mo stands out among many of the best fighters in the metroplex. On Saturday night, Hooker was at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, formerly the Dallas Convention Center, which held many Golden Gloves tournaments and once upon a time back in 1966 hosted a world championship bout between Dallas’ former WBC and WBA World Welterweight Champion Curtis Cokes (62-14, 30 KO’s) against Jean Josselin (66-16, 41 KO’s).
By Hector Sanchez: Let’s get the record straight. The sweet science will usually always prevail when it is against a slower opponent. Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Saul “El Canelo” Alvarez” admitted to ESPN after defeat “He is a fast fighter, more so when he is hitting lightly. His punches are not powerful, so it makes them faster.” That in itself is something we already knew, and now Canelo has seen it first hand. But what everyone has forgotten to mention is that most Floyd Mayweather Jr. opponents are not only cherry picked, but this time he went to the ultimate level of choosing someone that he knew he had no chance of losing to, unless Canelo got lucky like Marquez did against Pacquiao.
In his latest opponent, the Mayweather clan made it sure that the so-called best would go against the inexperienced and younger Canelo with every advantage possible. That is shameless for a fighter who everyone is brain washed into thinking is the best.
by Hector Sanchez: Last Friday night in front of a sold out crowd in Fort Worth, Texas, former Olympian Luis “the Latin Legend” Yanez (7-0) from Dallas, Texas captured the WBC USA Super Flyweight Title against Russian Timur Shailezov (16-7, 3KO’s ). The event which was called “Friday Night Fights Series” was promoted by former two time World Champion Paulie Ayala, and Yanez was the main event on the card.
by Hector Sanchez: On Friday April 19th at the Cendera Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Luis “the Latin Legend” (6-0-1) from Dallas,Texas will get his chance for a WBC belt when he takes on Russian Timur Shailezov (16-6-1) for the vacant WBC U.S. Super Flyweight Championship.
by Hector Sanchez: At the “Fights at the Fairgrounds” in the heart of Texas, that is, Dallas, Texas, up and coming super middleweight Tony Mack (6-0, 3KO’s) from Dallas, Texas puts another win on his undefeated record. This time he added it with a knockout of Curtis Howell (3-3, 2KO’s) on Saturday night at the Coliseum at the historic Dallas Fair Park, and capturing the Texas Super Middleweight Title.