Eric Hunter - The Outlaw From Philly Means Business

By Thomas Gerbasi

Most fighters in Eric Hunter’s shoes would look at tonight’s Fox Sports 1 main event against Rene Alvarado as a way to turn the page and begin a new, prosperous chapter in a ten-year pro career marked by more stops than starts; an opportunity to erase any negatives of the past once and for all.

But there’s no one quite like Eric Hunter.

“It’s not gonna erase nothing,” he said. “All it does it put another win on my record. This fight is no different than any others. I’ve fought world-class fighters before and beat them easy. After I beat Jerry Belmontes, he went up two weight classes and fought Omar Figueroa and beat him and they didn’t give it to him.”

But with a win over Alvarado on national television, it could be a way to introduce “The Outlaw” to a wider audience and give him some much needed attention to kick off 2015.

He laughs.

“If that’s what it means, then okay, I’ll take it.”

At 28, Hunter is a lot younger than his views on the boxing game would denote, but that’s because he’s seen plenty since entering the pro game in 2005 after a stellar amateur career that saw him earn an alternate spot on the 2004 United States Olympic team, much of it not falling into the positive category. Promotional issues, managerial issues, you name it, Philadelphia’s Hunter has seen it, but he’s still standing, and one win away from what may be a big year for him at 126 pounds.

“Last year I was a free agent,” he said. “Now I’ve got a powerhouse promoter (Golden Boy) behind me and they’re moving me. They’ve got me ready to fight Rene Alvarado, and I think it should be a good fight. It was long overdue. I probably should have had this chance, but now they’re giving me the chance to fight this guy, and I should make good work of it.”

He’s right. With Hunter’s talent level, he should have been in a big fight now, possibly enjoying the success some of the U.S. Class of 2004 – which includes Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell and Vanes Martirosyan – has enjoyed. But it never happened.

“I didn’t get the right promotion,” he said. “By me having that type of amateur background, I didn’t have the type of support I was supposed to have, like everybody else got. You got some guys coming up and they got all types of big signing bonuses and big purses, and me coming out of the amateurs, I was hot and they’re not giving me the money I should have got. It was kind of aggravating.”

Hunter doesn’t put all the blame for his slow rise on outside sources though, admitting that “maybe I listened to the wrong people instead of the right people.”

He realizes that one of the right people was Emanuel Steward.

“One person that really, really believed in my talent super big was the late, great Emanuel Steward,” Hunter said. “He followed me since I was a kid. He used to come to almost every tournament and watch me perform, and he had a lot of faith in me. He thought I was gonna be world champion. He was trying to sign me and I think I should have went with him when I first had the chance to. When he was alive he definitely took care of me and made sure I was okay.”

You can hear the regret in Hunter’s voice, not just because he didn’t sign with Steward, but because the legendary trainer is no longer here. Meanwhile, the Philadelphian took the long road up the ranks, fighting around Pennsylvania as well as in Georgia, New York, Maryland, Mississippi and North Dakota.

After running out to a 15-1 record, Hunter got a short notice call to take on unbeaten prospect Luis Franco in December of 2010. Hunter didn’t feel like he was ready for the fight, but he took it anyway, losing via disqualification in the eighth round due to low blows.

“I let my heart do it,” he said of taking the fight. “Instead of me thinking of this as a business, my heart took it.”

Following the bout, Hunter put the gloves away, a cautionary tale instead of a world champion.

“When I fought Luis Franco, I was pretty much done,” he said. “I feel like I didn’t have to take that type of fight and I feel as though the people I had around that were supposed to be my biggest supporters and had my back rushed me into a fight like that. I still feel as though I shouldn’t have lost to him. By me losing to a guy like him, I really felt upset and I felt like I just wanted to be done with the sport.”

There was too much left to be done though, too much talent being wasted, and eventually, with the encouragement of his family, Hunter returned to the ring, stopping Jason Rorie in two rounds in July of 2012.

“I gave myself a break and I got rejuvenated,” he said. “I came back new and I just stayed focused and had the right people behind me. My family kept me focused and made sure I got back in the gym, I trained a hundred percent, and I’m here now.”

The bumps in the road got a little smaller, but there was still the case of his third pro loss, another disqualification, this one against Mike Oliver in September of 2013. Hunter has no issue with his DQ against Franco, but when it comes to the Oliver fight, just a mention prompts a heated response.

“They blamed me for something the referee didn’t do,” he said. “Whoever seen that fight knows that Eric Hunter knocked out Mike Oliver and Eric Hunter should have been the NABA champ.”

In the first round of the bout, a clinch turned into Oliver sprawling to the canvas. Referee Benji Esteves began to move toward the fighters to break them cleanly, but Oliver sprung at Hunter. Hunter responded with a flush left hook that knocked Oliver out. Esteves still wasn’t completely between the fighters when the final punch landed, but Hunter was disqualified anyway. It was a borderline break at best, and the proper call should have been a no contest, but the loss stands, leaving some to accuse “The Outlaw” of being a dirty fighter.

“It doesn’t hurt me because everyone who knows me knows I’m not a dirty fighter,” he said. “I can’t worry about the perception of other people.”

Fair enough, yet he may get even more animated when you ask him about being a “Philly fighter.”

“I’m a fighter,” he said. “It ain’t about me being from Philly, heart and all that crazy stuff. Philly fighters are only known for coming up and having good fights, but always losing. I think that’s an insult, so don’t call me no Philly fighter. Call me a great fighter. I’m from Philly and I love my city, but I think we’ve got a bad name and we need to change that. People always say ‘oh, he’s from Philly, he’s a tough kid.’ That’s all they say.”

He does have a point, but at the same time, it’s not like every fighter out of Philly is a tough as nails brawler with an iron jaw but the inability to win the big one. Hunter wants to be in that other category.

“I think Danny Garcia’s leading the way,” he said. “He’s a world champion. And he didn’t get to be the world champion just being a Philly fighter; he got that way being a great fighter. Danny’s a great fighter, Bernard (Hopkins) is a great fighter. And I’m gonna be a great fighter. When it comes to putting gloves on, I can fight. And you better bring your breakfast, lunch and dinner when you fight me.”

I’m almost afraid to ask the final question, but is there a light at the end of the tunnel for Eric Hunter in 2015?

“I’m just gonna keep grinding, I’m gonna keep training my butt off, and hopefully it brings light to the end of the tunnel,” he said. “But I can’t think about that now. They’re giving me a chance to show my talent, and I’m gonna take full advantage of that.”