Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Saturday, November 19, 2016 was a night of controversial decisions.
In the co-main event of the HBO PPV broadcast of Kovalev-Ward, Maurice Hooker (21-0-3, 16 KOs) revealed many flaws as he fought to a draw against Darleys Perez (33-2-2, 21 KOs) in a 10-round Super Lightweight fight at the Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
While this was supposed to be a coming out party, Hooker, a 27-year-old native of Dallas, Texas, had a tough time against the much shorter Perez, a 33-year-old of Colombia.
In the opening rounds, Hooker tried to establish a jab, but it became very clear that Perez was not a push over. In fact, Perez found a home for counter right hands over Hooker’s jab, while the left hook was an even easier punch to land over Perez’s long right hand.
Instead of controlling the ring, Hooker backed up constantly and allowed Perez to walk him down. Hooker could not keep Perez away from him with the jab or one-two.
Hooker’s biggest problems where that he often threw his right hand very wide, and instead of jabbing strongly and consistently, his jabs lacked the stiffness to keep Perez honest.
This allowed Perez to win most of the exchanges and to push the action throughout the entire fight.
Nevertheless, the judges scored the fight a draw. One judge scored the fight 97-93 for Hooker, while another scored the same for Perez. A third had it even at 95-95.
“It’s not my day. That’s not how I wanted to see this fight end,” said Hooker, who will have to closely look at his performance to see what he must correct.
Perez, on the other hand, felt he was robbed.
“I won the fight. He’s a young lion but I know in my heart that I won the fight. I was robbed, I want a rematch,” said Perez.
What did you think of the decision? Would you watch a rematch?
