With Maurice Hooker officially scheduled to face Regis Prograis on April 17, the former junior welterweight titleholder talks to our friends at Fight Hub TV about his expectations for the bout. Check out some excerpts below...
Hooker of why he’s so confident he can beat Prograis:
“I mean it’s good both sides got confidence because that’s gonna make a good fight. My coach believes I’m gonna knock him out, his team believes he’s gonna knock me out — we gonna see. I’m not backing down from him. Come fight night I’ma meet him in the middle of the ring and we’ll go from there.”
On if it’s a good idea to try and trade with Prograis at center ring when it might be better to use his height and reach to box him:
“I have power too. I have power too. And come fight night you’ll see him back up before I do.”
On how he’s been able to rebuild coming back from his first loss to Jose Ramirez:
“I mean I switched up, got a new team. Been hard working together, working on new things and my last fight I didn’t have a good chance to show ya’ll what I learned because I won by first round knockout. So this fight, hopefully, I can show everybody what I been working on and what I’ve learned so far as my new team.”
On if Prograis’ power is his biggest threat:
“No. I mean, he’s just a counterpuncher. I just gotta be on watch out. I just can’t lose focus for nothing. I just gotta stay focused on him and win round by round. I will break him apart.
“I’m for sure, I know I’m gonna win this fight. I mean, besides power what else do he have? He flat-footed, he don’t move around the ring like that. He just stand there. We gonna see, I’ma make him get out of his shell. I’ma make him come get me and I’ma go get him come to the end off the fight. I’ma go get him and I’ma go on the hunt and I’m gonna show everybody that I do have power and I’m still one of the best.”
On if he took his first loss to heart and how did it affect him:
“Nah, I just know this is what I signed up for. When in the ring I know I can lose. So I know this is what I signed up for. I was down for like that night but in the morning I was okay because I know I signed up for this and I knew it was a chance that I could’ve lost or even got stopped like I did. And it was a chance. I signed up for this and this is what I do because I love it.”
On moving to Terence Crawford’s camp and if he’s had a chance to spar him yet:
“Yeah, I sparred him last week. It’s good. Both dogs, we meet each other in the middle of the ring and go at it. But yeah, I spar with him a lot.
“He’s very smart, I’ll tell you that. I mean, I can’t mess up with him. I can’t lose focus, I gotta keep my eye on him. He’s very slick, fast. I mean, hey, I see why he’s pound-for-pound.”