Maurice Hooker: record, next fight and profile →
The highly anticipated welterweight showdown between rising knockout artist Vergil Ortiz Jr. (16-0, 16 KOs) and former world champion Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (27-1-3, 19 KOs) will take place at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
A hometown battle between two Dallas, Texas natives will take place on March 20 as Vergil Ortiz Jr. (16-0, 16 KOs) and former world champion Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (27-1-3, 19 KOs) clash in a 12-round fight for the vacant WBO International Welterweight Title. The bout will headline a card that includes the Unites States debut of heavyweight monster Arslanbek “Lion” Makhmudov and a world title clash between Anabel “Avispa” Ortiz and Seniesa “Superbad” Estrada.
Vergil Ortiz Jr.’s next fight will come in a two-way homecoming. Multiple sources have informed BoxingScene.com of plans in place for Ortiz to face Maurice Hooker. The bout is targeted to headline a March 27 DAZN event live from Dallas, where both welterweights are based.
Former junior welterweight world titlist Maurice Hooker is in talks with Premier Boxing Champions about a possible fight at 145 pounds against former lightweight titlist Robert Easter Jr. for later this year.
Regis Prograis isn’t ready to let his ongoing feud with Maurice Hooker end without an actual fight in the ring. The twice-canceled matchup of former junior welterweight titlists has left Prograis out of the ring since his title-losing effort to Josh Taylor in their World Boxing Super Series 140-pound final last October. Prograis and Dallas’ Hooker (27-1-3, 18KOs) were due to meet at a maximum catchweight of 143-pounds on April 17, only for the initial wave of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to cancel the event.
When Alex Saucedo stepped on the scale just before he began training camp for his world title fight against Maurice Hooker, it read 189 pounds. A then-undefeated Saucedo had nine weeks to lose nearly 50 pounds for that 12-round championship match. Saucedo somehow came in one pound below the junior welterweight limit of 140, but he completely depleted himself while shedding so much weight while training.
Promoters Lou DiBella and Dino Duva conceded Monday that they’ve stopped negotiating to make a Regis Prograis-Maurice Hooker fight at a higher weight. The former 140-pound champions signed contracts for a 12-round fight at a contracted catch weight of 143 pounds April 17 at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. That card was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regis Prograis doesn’t believe this stalemate is about weight. The powerful southpaw suspects Maurice Hooker actually thought twice after agreeing to box Prograis and changed his mind. The former WBO junior welterweight champion would’ve been paid very well to oppose Prograis in a 12-round, 143-pound bout, but Hooker has informed BoxingScene.com that the lowest weight he would be able to reach for it is 145 pounds.
Regis Prograis gets the sense that his fight against Maurice Hooker just wasn’t meant to happen. They were supposed to meet earlier in their careers. Then the former 140-pound champions signed contracts to fight April 17, only to have it postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maurice Hooker still wants to fight fellow former junior welterweight world titlist Regis Prograis, but said he simply cannot do it at the 143-pound weight limit they had agreed to before their fight was postponed. Hooker and Prograis were scheduled to meet in a much-anticipated twelve round non-title bout in the main event of a DAZN card on April 17 at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, before the coronavirus pandemic caused the fight to be postponed indefinitely.