by Bill Emes
Lightweight contender Hanky Lundy (22-1-1, 11KOs), who later tonight faces Raymundo Beltran in an ESPN televised bout at the Resorts Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, has set his sights on a future battle with rising star Adrien Broner (24-0, 20KOs). Broner is scheduled to make his lightweight debut on October 6th at the Boardwalk Hall, also located in Atlantic City.
Even before Broner had announced his intention to move to 135-pounds, Lundy was trading words with the boxer.
They have one thing in common - they both failed to make weight for the recent fights. Last Friday, Broner came in at 133.5-pounds for his super featherweight fight with Vicente Escobedo. A catch-weight deal was later worked out only a few hours before the fight was scheduled to take place. In Lundy's case, he came in at 136.2-pounds and finally made weight after four attempts.
"You have to be a professional and lose the weight. All I can say is, ‘Hey, I had to do it.’ All it did was kill my morning run because I usually go for a run the morning of, but I can chill now because I already did it," Lundy told BoxingScene.com.
Lundy feels Broner is ducking the tough opposition and facing second tier contenders on his road to the top.
"I kind of like him, but the opposition that he’s fought? Nowhere near my level. [The] 135-pound division is a weight class where if you hit someone they’re going to hit you back. I’m more than welcome to having Adrien Broner move up, but there’s one thing about that – you’ve got to run through ‘‘Hammerin’’ Hank and it won’t be easy. I’m a warrior. When we meet in the ring, you’re going to walk through hell, just like I told Dannie Williams," Lundy said.
"If they call me, we're ready to fight. I've ran through everyone in this division that they've put in front of me. I would have liked to revenge one loss [John Molina]. It's like this, he's trying to take a shortcut up and go straight to the top. You work your way up, like the oldtimers. When you fight the best, you can call yourself the best. I've fought bettter competition than he has. Let this be a lesson to you Broner, sometimes you come in [overweight] but you have to bite down and make that weight."
"I'm a real fighter at the end of the day. Like I've showed you, I can get up off the canvas and make the fight one sided. I'm the real deal. I didn't have handpicked opponents. Everyone I fought was killers. My guys were 110 wins and losses. How many of his opponents matched up to that? None of them!"