Mighty Mo might need to change his nickname to the Road Warrior.
After winning his WBO junior welterweight title in the hometown of Terry Flanagan, Maurice Hooker (25-0-3, 17 KOs) took his first defense on the road to Oklahoma City as well. Once again he hushed the crowd, this time with an emphatic seventh round stoppage over Top Rank’s Alex Saucedo (28-1, 18 KOs).
The first round opened up at the expected high pace. Saucedo was getting through with clean shots, but it was Maurice Hooker’s nonstop 109 punches that edged the opening frame. His jab and straight right hands were particularly effective as they would be the whole night. The second round wasn’t successful for him early, however, as one of those clean Saucedo right hands deposited “Mighty Mo” on the seat of his pants. He rebounded well though with a vicious flurry to close the round after surviving the initial follow up attack.
The early portion of the third round was controlled by the challenger’s clean shots, but Hooker once again took over in the round’s second half with sharp right hands. From there it looked like the traveling titleholder was completely taking over the fight. He lit Saucedo up from range in the fourth and was clearly superior. Yet, Hooker followed the dynamic fourth with a strange fifth round in which he just leaned on the ropes. He mostly made the slower Saucedo miss and might have demoralized him with that reality and a big closing flurry in return, but it wasn’t a smart way to win a round.
It didn’t matter though. Maurice Hooker returned to range in the sixth and just landed at will against a helpless Saucedo. The house fighter didn’t give much back in return and the finish came a round later. The seventh round had barely begun before Saucedo ran out of the ability to take consecutive sharp right hands. About three of them in a row staggered him back. On his way to the canvas the ropes held the failing Oklahoma City challenger up and the sequence was correctly ruled a knockdown. He was allowed to continue, but Hooker came out aggressively and blew him away for the decisive finish.
Maurice Hooker has confirmed his status as a real player in the division with this dynamic win over Alex Saucedo. The Top Rank fighter is flawed for sure, but he’s a durable guy with tons of heart. To finish him is an accomplishment. Mighty Mo will head to Matchroom and DAZN as a name to watch at a 140 lbs.
Also successful in the co-main event was “The Mean Machine” Egidijus Kavaliauskas (21-0, 17 KOs). The Lithuanian scored a third round finish over fellow unbeaten Nicaraguan prospect Roberto Arriaza (17-1, 12 KOs). Unfortunately, the finish wasn’t particularly clean. Though a legal barrage put Arriaza down, it was an additional left hand shot after he was on a knee that finished the fight for good. The Nicaraguan stayed on a knee through the ten count and was clearly dazed for a bit afterward. The ESPN crew downplayed the blow, but it was illegal and many different rulings could have been made there. To his credit, Kavaliauskas did show us a new look leading up to the finish. He boxed well off the back foot, very well actually. I don’t think anyone knew he was capable of that. With the win “The Mean Machine” becomes Terence Crawford’s mandatory challenger. The only downside for him going forward was a bad cut opened over his eye that will likely delay Kavaliauskas’s return.
