By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBO Jr. Welterweight Champion Maurice Hooker of Dallas, Texas will be taking on undefeated Mikkel LesPierre of Trinidad and Tobago at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York this Saturday, March 9th. The 12-round bout will be shown live in North America on DAZN and on Sky sports in the UK. Hooker was last in the ring in November when he stopped Alex Saucedo in the seventh round in his first title defence. He won the title last June when he beat former champion Terry Flanagan by a split decision. LesPierre also fought in November when he stopped Wilton Montero.
The 29-year-old Hooker climbs into the ring with a record of 22-0-3 along with 17 Kos. He’s not known as a big hitter, but has a current knockout ratio of 61 per cent and managed to stop Saucedo in devastating fashion after being dropped himself earlier in the fight. Hooker’s boxed 122 rounds since turning pro in 2011. Before that, he was a Dallas regional Golden Gloves Champion and had a fine amateur record of 85-7. Since turning pro he’s drawn with Darleys Perez (10 rounds) and Abel Ramos (eight rounds) as well as Tyrone Chatman over four rounds in his pro debut.
Hooker hasn’t really beaten anybody of note other than Flanagan and Saucedo, but also has wins over the likes of Santos Benavides, Tye Barnett and Cristobal Cruz. He’s also won the WBO NABO Super Lightweight Title as a pro and defended it four times. Although Hooker has decent power and a good chin, he had gone the distance in his last four outings before stopping Saucedo. Hooker stands 5-feet-11-inches tall and has a reach of 80 inches. He’s got fine boxing skills and is somewhat underrated.
As for LesPierre, he’s just 33 years old and carries a perfect record of 21-0-1 with 11 Kos and now fights out of Brooklyn, New York. He turned pro in 2012 at the age of 27 and has 95 rounds of experience under his belt. He went 36-13 as an amateur and took part in the 2012 Olympic trials. He’s just 5-feet-8-inches tall with an unlisted reach so gives up three inches in height to Hooker. LesPierre doesn’t have much in the way of power with a current knockout ratio of 45 per cent and has stopped his last three opponents.
It’s hard to find any recognizable names on the list of LesPierre’s opponents and just seven of his 22 previous foes had winning records. It’s unclear how he got a title fight with Hooker and on paper at least it looks like a mismatch. Since turning pro he’s managed to win the vacant WBC Fecarbox Junior Welterweight Title by stopping Mario Beltre in December of 2017 and the vacant WBC United States Junior Welterweight Crown with a 10-round unanimous decision over Noel Murphy just two months later. The lone blemish on his record is a four-round draw with Cornelius Whitlock in his second pro fight.
Prediction…
Hooker will use his superior boxing skills and size advantage to keep LesPierre on the outside and nail him whenever he gets within reach. LesPierre doesn’t have the power to keep the champion at bay and I’m expecting Hooker to retain his belt without too much of a problem.
