Michael Hunter of Van Nuys, California returns to the ring this Saturday, June 24th to take on Donnie Palmer of Boston, Massachusetts. The 10-round heavyweight tilt will be held at the Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts. Hunter last fought in December, 2021 when he battled to a 10-round draw with Jerry Forrest. Palmer’s last fight took place in January when he dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Steve Vukosa. Hunter has been keeping himself busy by fighting in the Team Combat League against opponents such as Hasim Rahman, Jr., Jerry Forrest, Norman Neely, Devon Young and Scott Alexander.
The 34-year-old Hunter, who fights out of Las Vegas, climbs through the ropes with a record of 20-1-2 with 14 Ko’s. He’s boxed 137 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013 after a fine amateur career. Hunter is the son of former pro heavyweight Mike ‘The Bounty Hunter’ Hunter. Michael fought at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 where he lost to current light heavyweight titleholder Artur Beterbiev.
He also fought at the 2007 World Championships in Chicago where he beat Andy Ruiz Jr. on his way to the quarterfinals. Hunter was a 2007 US National Champion in the Super Heavyweight division and also was the US Olympic Trials Gold medalist the same year. In 2008 he was an Olympic Trials silver and bronze medalist and beat Oscar Rivas on the way and also fought at the World Cup in Russian but failed to qualify for the Olympics in 2008.
Hunter was the US National Super Heavyweight Champ in 2009 and US National Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion in 2011. He was the 2012 US National Heavyweight Champion while competing at the Olympics. As a pro, Hunter has captured the WBO NABO Cruiserweight Title as well as the IBO Inter-Continental, WBA Inter-Continental, and WBA International Heavyweight Belts.
Hunter’s lone pro defeat came at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk by way of unanimous decision in 2017 in a shot at the WBO Cruiserweight Title. His biggest wins have been against Jason Douglas, Isiah Thomas, Iago Kiladze, Alexander Ustinov, Martin Bakole, Fabio Maldonado and Sergey Kuzmin while his other draw came against Alexander Povetkin over 12 rounds in 2019. Hunter stands 6-feet-2-inches with a wingspan of 79.5 inches and also has good power with a knockout ratio of 61 per cent.
Palmer is 39 years old and enters the fight with a mark of 12-3-1 with 10 Ko’s. He made his pro debut back in 2012 following a fine amateur career which reportedly saw him go 74-11 and has just 54 rounds of experience under his belt since then. One of the reasons for his low round total is due to the fact that 11 of his 16 pro fights have ended by stoppage. He also took nearly four years off from July 2018 to February, 2022. The army veteran and part-time politician also suffered a gunshot wound in July, 2014.
Like Hunter, Palmer also possesses better-than-average power thanks to a powerful left hand and his current knockout ratio clocks in at 62.5 per cent. At 6-feet-10-inches tall, Palmer has a huge eight-inch height advantage on Hunter but unfortunately has an unlisted reach to go along with it. He drew with Moses Marshall over four rounds in his pro debut and then ran of six straight wins by stoppage before losing a six-round split decision to Daniel Pasciolla in 2015. Palmer stepped up in class in 2018 and was halted by Joe Joyce in just 38 seconds when he was caught cold.
Prediction…
Age isn’t on Palmer’s side but he does have a big size advantage over Hunter and enough power to pull off an upset. Palmer’s 2-1 since returning to the ring last year and captured the vacant American Boxing Federation Atlantic Heavyweight Belt last July when he stopped Ricardo Ramirez in the second round. Hunter has improved over the years and is a solid boxer but has never really hit the big time. However, he should leave the ring with another victory this weekend thanks to his experience and skills.
