Dallas, Texas welterweight prospect Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (11-0, 9KO’s) is looking to go to the next level in boxing and in doing so, he has been training for his next fight at the Wild Card Gym in California. On Thursday, September 26, 2013, Hooker will be on the co-main event of the night at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel presented by Bobby D Presents Promotions against Rynell Griffin (7-17, 2KO’s). Hooker was originally scheduled to fight another fighter, but the deal didn’t go through, but the show must go on. Despite the change, Hooker is ready for the fight against the southpaw Griffin from New Orleans, who recently went the distance against Herbert Acevedo (10-1, 5KO’s) and Bajodir Mamdjonov (14-1, 9KO’s).
NTF caught up with the undefeated welterweight and his trainer Vincent Parra as they were in preparation for his upcoming fight. Parra has trained the likes of Mercito Gesta (26-1, 14 KO’s) among others, and his latest prodigy is the undefeated Hooker from Maple Avenue Boxing Gym in Dallas, Texas. Hooker began his training for this fight with Parra shortly after his latest knockout against John Revish (10-6-2, 8KO’s) at the end of August. This is Parra’s third fight in the corner with Hooker and he told NTF that the young welterweight is ready to move to the next level and that in this training camp he is working on the attributes of this knockout artist. That is, his height, reach, movement in the ring, and his defense, which will open all the opportunities for him to succeed in the ring. For this fight, Parra expects Hooker to “Work and stay behind his jab in the center of the ring for every round, to execute and finally destroy his opponent.”
In addition to the experience that Hooker is getting at the Wild Card Gym for his upcoming fight, he was fortunate enough to get in numerous rounds of ring work with Russian number one welterweight contender Ruslan Provodnikov. Parra commented that he was extremely happy with Hooker’s ring work with Provodnikov and that it was “serious business.” And to add to that experience, the young welterweight even got to spar numerous rounds with Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30KO’s), multi-time former world champion, who is training for his upcoming fight against Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3) in October. When asked what the experience was like sparring with the world champion he said “I had to stay focused, because Cotto was very calm but slick in the ring.” Parra also commented that Hooker learned a lot from the champion and that he held his own.
From speaking with the Hooker it was obvious he was excited about his upcoming fight on Thursday and he told NTF that some of the things he would be using in the ring were his body shots and his straight right hand. The right hand that has been knocking out most of his opponents. He also said “I am going to try and keep him in the center of the ring and see if he can fight going backward, and then I am going to take him out in the fourth round!”
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