By Ryan Burton
Like many fighters making the transition from prospect to contender, Maurice "Mighty Mo" Hooker (23-0) is on the cusp of making his dream of becoming a world champion come true. The only thing that stands in his way is Terry Flanagan (33-0). They meet in the ring at the O2 Arena in the United Kingdom on April 14th.
They will fight for the WBO super lightweight title that Terence Crawford vacated when he decided to move up to the welterweight division. Hooker is the #1 rated contender by the WBO and Flanagan vacated his WBO lightweight title and was installed as the mandatory challenger to fight for the belt.
"I am ready. I am thinking like I am going to war. I am focused on this fight. I just need to bring pressure. He can't fight under pressure and I am going to make it uncomfortable for him," said a very confident Hooker. "I am bigger and I hit harder. I think I am going to wear him down."
The 28-year-old Hooker is in training camp with Crawford. They formed a friendship when Hooker helped Crawford prepare for his July, 2016 super lightweight unification fight against then WBC champion Viktor Postol.
Crawford has experience fighting in the UK himself. He traveled to Scotland in 2014 when he won his first world title by outpointing Ricky Burns by a wide margin. Hooker said that he hopes to receive some advice from Crawford for what will be his first fight overseas.
"I worked with him when he fought Postol. I feel very comfortable out there. It is a lot of hard work. I am pretty sure he is going to talk about it and share his experience when he fought Ricky Burns," Hooker told BoxingScene.com.
Hooker, who is promoted by Roc Nation, went 2-0 last year and has won 10 of his past 11 bouts with his only blemish being a split draw to Darleys Perez in 2016.
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