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Maurice Hooker takes nothing away from Jose Ramirez.
The unbeaten WBC/WBO 140-pound champion caught Hooker with a stunning shot July 27, a left hook that abruptly brought what had been a competitive contest to a decisive conclusion in the sixth round. Seven months later, Hooker can’t wait to prove against a championship-caliber opponent, Regis Prograis, that he can overcome his lone loss to Ramirez.
“I just wanna show everybody that my fight against Jose Ramirez was just a bad night,” Hooker told BoxingScene.com. “It wasn’t my night. I had a lot going on. I wanna show that boxers just have bad nights, and that night was my bad night.”
The 30-year-old Hooker doesn’t know how long he’ll have to wait for that opportunity. The Hooker-Prograis fight, which had been scheduled for April 17 at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m ready for the fight,” Hooker said. “I’m gonna keep training until they have a date. But I know our health is very important, so when this thing gets cleared up, I’ll be ready to go. I’ll just keep training, take care of my family and wait until this thing passes. They just told me to sit tight, but I’m gonna keep training and just stay ready, because you never know when you’ll get that phone call.”
Hooker (27-1-3, 18 KOs) has returned from training camp in Omaha, Nebraska, to the Dallas area, where he is helping home school his eight children between roadwork and training sessions at a gym in Garland, Texas. Prograis (24-1, 20 KOs) also left the Los Angeles area for Houston, where he is still training for their 12-round, 143-pound bout.
“I feel like I’ll come in right that night, 100-percent ready, and I’ll out-box him,” Hooker said. “It won’t be that hard, unless I make it hard.”
Against Ramirez (25-0, 17 KOs), Hooker trailed on two scorecards – 49-45, 48-46 and 47-47 – before Ramirez’s left hook wobbled him and backed Hooker into the ropes. Ramirez pounced on his wide-open opponent, which prompted referee Mark Nelson to step between them quickly and stop their fight at 1:48 of the sixth round.
In his first fight following his loss to Ramirez, Hooker scored a first-round, technical-knockout victory over Uriel Perez (19-5, 17 KOs) on December 20 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.
New Orleans’ Prograis suffered his first professional defeat in his last fight. Scottish southpaw Josh Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs) topped Prograis by 12-round majority decision to win the WBA 140-pound title from Prograis and retain his IBF junior welterweight title October 26 at O2 Arena in London.
Prograis predicted Hooker won’t be able to take the strong southpaw’s power whenever they square off.
“I’m ready to shut Regis up,” Hooker said. “He talks too much. I’m ready to fight him right now.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.