By Ben Jacobs
After a tough, entertaining fight against Thomas Dulorme in December, fans probably did not expect to see Hank Lundy (25-4-1, 12 KOs) back in the ring so soon, but that will be the case on January 16. Lundy fights Spanish-based Russian Petr Petrov (35-4-2, 17 KOs) in what is expected to be another crowd pleasing battle on ESPN2.
Hank revealed that he was originally due to fight Montenegro’s Dejan Zlaticanin at the end of the month in an eliminator for a world title shot, however, when it was revealed that his potential opponent would not be available in time, the Philadelphia man jumped at the chance to fight after taking only a week out of the gym since his last battle.
“I’m very pleased to fight again, I felt in my last fight that one of the judges was blind,” he explained to BoxingScene.
“I felt if the judges didn’t give the fight to me it should have been a draw. I was the show-stopper in that fight and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I took a week off then I went back in the gym and continued to work.”
After some impressive early work Dulorme appeared tired as the fight went to the later rounds. As such, Lundy feels he would have stopped the Puerto Rican had it been a 12 round bout as opposed to ten.
“I would have stopped him at the beginning of the eleventh round. I would love a rematch but the question is, do they want a rematch with me? Gary Shaw made it clear and said, ‘no’. I wasn’t pleased in that fight, I felt if I had gone to the body more that would have created shots and I would have knocked him out.”
For the Dulorme camp Lundy worked with esteemed trainer Barry Hunter in Washington D.C. However, this time the 31-year-old has returned to the man who trained him during the early part of his professional career, Charles Rame, back in Philadelphia.
"I started off with him and I went 13-0, and with this guy he had me as a boxer-puncher. I can do it all but more so in the future I’m going to stay slick and elusive and bring the fight.
So I went back to the old school trainer and I’ve been looking good. I guarantee that Friday on ESPN, well, don’t blink! ‘Hammering’ Hank doesn’t bring bad fights.”
Despite the fact that he is moving back down to lightweight, Lundy does not envisage any problems making the 135lbs limit.
"As soon as I got back to Philly, I hired a strength and conditioning guy and we jumped right on it, I’m making the weight easy and eating right. I’m ready to go. I live in the gym, I’m a throwback fighter. I’ll fight at 135, 140, even 147, I’m never scared! I want Jorge Linares, he’s sharp but at the end of the day the guy he beat in Japan is not ‘Hammering’ Hank!”
The aforementioned Petrov will enter the ring with lots of confidence having strung together a number of good results last year including victory in ESPN’s Boxcino tournament. He has been in the ring with good company as well despite losses to Marcos Maidana and Dejan Zlaticanin.
"I’ve seen a bit of Petrov, I wish they would have put me in that lightweight tournament but
I guess they said I was too advanced for it. There’s a lot of things there I can exploit, I see a lot of weaknesses but I’m not going to put them out there. You’ll see on fight night,” he assured.
Still carrying a high ranking with the IBF at junior welterweight, Lundy could potentially find himself in the unwanted position of having to fight a friend in Lamont Peterson at some point during the future. Lundy has no qualms should that match up materialise.
“One thing about me, if it presents itself and everything is right, lets get it. We’re good friends, we worked in D.C. even with Adrien Broner, but if it makes sense, hey, ‘Hammering’ Hank don’t run from nobody.
“I’ve been dying to fight Ruslan Provodnikov but you know, they asked Freddy Roach about me and he said they don’t want to fight me. They just want a guy who will stand and trade. I’d have gone over there to kick some ass. I went to Ukraine and beat the hell out of Viktor Postol, but they didn’t give me a fair shake. He had his head down after that fight. I would love to fight him here in the USA, I would destroy him! You’ve got some guys that wont travel but I’m never scared.”
