Michael Hunter

[orbtastic]

he had a broken nose, cut left eye and badly swollen cheek. he'd already said prior to the 5th he couldn't breathe properly.

[rhino222]

the molitor fight was strange. it was like one big bluff, i hate to say. hunter looked good in the first two or three rounds, did some nice feints, actually had molitor reacting to his feints. and then the punches started coming, and he didn't want anymore.

This is exactly as I remember it. As soon as the heat was turned on, Hunter packed in. As I said, I'm not making any value judgements on what he did - but that's what happened, IMO.

absolutely spot on Ian, he took his knee against molitar and shook his head. some would call this sensible but this boy was fighting for a world title remember, most guys are prepared to go out on their shield, the molitar fight im afraid hunter did not. despite his early career success...many of us, including myself, rightly or wrongly, are basing our opinion on him due to that night.

then... to cap it all, a poster ?northeastboxing or someone like that, had an ongoing arguament with myself and others, with reference to being a quitter, and sure enough, during the booth fight, as predicted by many of us...... when the going got tough, the tough ran away. i would consider it to be playground bully like.

and........yes he was saying, in front of the sky cameras in his corner..... 'get me out' .... !!!

i wish him luck in his future life, hope he does not go off the rails etc. but he reached his level, he was a good domestic/EU fighter. without the heart im afraid, to take him to the next level.

no shame i might add in the level he reaches, but you cant shine matt paint, its as simple as that.

[bigdaddy]

This is exactly as I remember it. As soon as the heat was turned on, Hunter packed in. As I said, I'm not making any value judgements on what he did - but that's what happened, IMO.[/quote]


Wonder what Neil Fannan would have to say about that Ian

[dondada]

This is exactly as I remember it. As soon as the heat was turned on, Hunter packed in. As I said, I'm not making any value judgements on what he did - but that's what happened, IMO.

Wonder what Neil Fannan would have to say about that Ian [/quote]

I very, very rarely write what are known as 'puff pieces' which is where one goes over the top about stuff. However, I did once for another of Fannan's fighters, Argy Ward. Argy is from my hometown (Darlington) - daft thing to say but his dad is a pal of my dad's etc. When Argy won the Commonwealth title, I did a big puff piece saying how awesome it was and so on.

The ONE slightly negative thing I wrote was that the body shot which stopped the lad didn't look the most spiteful I'd ever seen. Neil told me he printed the story out, highlighted that comment, took it down the gym and said 'There. That's what your so called friend has written about you.'

The piece was called 'Ward becomes hometown hero' and was utterly gushing - and I STILL got f*cking black balled!

As I said, I'm not necessarily criticising Hunter for the route he took against Molitor at all. But to deny he packed it in (as he did against Booth...but the circumstances were completely different) is daft, to me.

What would Fannan say? Not very much - he'd probably want to kill me. Mean mofo is Neil...wouldn't mind if I deserved it.

[palooka]

I think he gave everything he had. He looked skeletal at the weight and his natural strength and aggression pushed him through domestic and european opposition; with the odd scare. The jump in class and real technique against a very decent Molitor was too much. It must have hurt Hunter loads to have been dissected and chopped up and down; he'd done his best and had shot his bolt while Molitor had plenty in the tank. It is easy to say that the best thing is to 'go out on your shield' (remember Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan anyone?) It's generally the people that've never had to make a choice about being laid out in front of your friends who are the most principled. Against Booth; Hunter looked good for a round or 2 but Jason had too much for him. I am a fan of Hunter and i'll be honest; he didn't want to carry on in the bout after about the 4th. Again; he'd done what he could; thrown what he had and Jason was leathering him up and down. Booth said after he thought that weight making had done for him. (If I go in the sauna for 15 minutes instead of 10 I cannot get off the settee when I get in; if I had to fight someone I'd be shagged). :(

[dondada]

I think he gave everything he had. He looked skeletal at the weight and his natural strength and aggression pushed him through domestic and european opposition; with the odd scare. The jump in class and real technique against a very decent Molitor was too much. It must have hurt Hunter loads to have been dissected and chopped up and down; he'd done his best and had shot his bolt while Molitor had plenty in the tank. It is easy to say that the best thing is to 'go out on your shield' (remember Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan anyone?) It's generally the people that've never had to make a choice about being laid out in front of your friends who are the most principled. Against Booth; Hunter looked good for a round or 2 but Jason had too much for him. I am a fan of Hunter and i'll be honest; he didn't want to carry on in the bout after about the 4th. Again; he'd done what he could; thrown what he had and Jason was leathering him up and down. Booth said after he thought that weight making had done for him. (If I go in the sauna for 15 minutes instead of 10 I cannot get off the settee when I get in; if I had to fight someone I'd be shagged). :(

Good post

[jameswilson]

Don't think anyone has mentioned the Pickering fight. It's odd that I still wonder whether Pickering could have gone on and challenged for a World title again had the ref either stopped Hunter in the first or Hunter failed to survive the knockdowns. It seemed Pickering's demise was pretty immediate at Super bantam after that fight.

[rhino222]

I think he gave everything he had. He looked skeletal at the weight and his natural strength and aggression pushed him through domestic and european opposition; with the odd scare. The jump in class and real technique against a very decent Molitor was too much. It must have hurt Hunter loads to have been dissected and chopped up and down; he'd done his best and had shot his bolt while Molitor had plenty in the tank. It is easy to say that the best thing is to 'go out on your shield' (remember Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan anyone?) It's generally the people that've never had to make a choice about being laid out in front of your friends who are the most principled. Against Booth; Hunter looked good for a round or 2 but Jason had too much for him. I am a fan of Hunter and i'll be honest; he didn't want to carry on in the bout after about the 4th. Again; he'd done what he could; thrown what he had and Jason was leathering him up and down. Booth said after he thought that weight making had done for him. (If I go in the sauna for 15 minutes instead of 10 I cannot get off the settee when I get in; if I had to fight someone I'd be shagged). :(

but going in the sauna is not your job, and you dont get paid for it and you dont have 12 weeks to prepare for it !!

with preparation and seasoning, you would manage half an hour or more in the sauna...unless of course you jumped straight from 10 to 30 mins !!

[palooka]

Rhino - most of the best boxers are fighting at a weight that is a good stone and a half away from a healthy walking around weight. It is insane really. I have no doubt at all that Hunter did the work in the gym, did the runs and still had a lot to shift. Invariably; that comes at the very end of a 12 week camp and hurts like hell. It also has a massive effect on the boxers ability. Molitor would've given Michael a real doing in any case; Jason booth would've stopped him late after a few scares instead of pretty early with no scares.

[rhino222]

it has since been proved that molitar is not invincible, boothy too has taken his licks over the years.

i think a lot of hunters issues were psychological.

[BashOfHartlepool]

All you do is slag boxers off, it's sad really mate. This is supposed for people who LIKE boxing. How many fights have you "toughed" it out in anyway?

Understand where you're coming from, Mooresy - haven't really followed this markp chap's posts however.

In his defence though, the Molitor fight was a real shocker. Some are adamant that he didn't pack it in, which is ridiculous. After all the build up, Hunter very, very quickly realised he was out of his depth (power wise, I think) and got out as soon as he could. I'm not making any value judgements at all - could have been an intelligent move.

what are you suggesting he was looking for a way out ian :!:
he was completely outclassed & couldnt lay a glove on molitor who destroys domestic opposition, it was 5rds=15minutes he could of opted earliersurelly

Hunter was looking pretty decent in the first few rounds i thought, wasnt really being outclassed until he was knocked down

[Hagler2002]

Understand where you're coming from, Mooresy - haven't really followed this markp chap's posts however.

In his defence though, the Molitor fight was a real shocker. Some are adamant that he didn't pack it in, which is ridiculous. After all the build up, Hunter very, very quickly realised he was out of his depth (power wise, I think) and got out as soon as he could. I'm not making any value judgements at all - could have been an intelligent move.

what are you suggesting he was looking for a way out ian :!:
he was completely outclassed & couldnt lay a glove on molitor who destroys domestic opposition, it was 5rds=15minutes he could of opted earliersurelly

Hunter was looking pretty decent in the first few rounds i thought, wasnt really being outclassed until he was knocked down

Brainwashed by Jim Watt imo, he was taking a pasting

[orbtastic]

First couple of rounds Molitor was just taking a look but once he came out of first gear and upped the tempo, the gulf in class was vast and he was getting a pig-sticking.

[Counter-puncher]

Molitor didn't even seem to really open up or sit down on his shots.

[orbtastic]

Which is kind of ironic given how clueless he looked when in with a genuine top tier world class fighter.

[BashOfHartlepool]

what are you suggesting he was looking for a way out ian :!:
he was completely outclassed & couldnt lay a glove on molitor who destroys domestic opposition, it was 5rds=15minutes he could of opted earliersurelly

Hunter was looking pretty decent in the first few rounds i thought, wasnt really being outclassed until he was knocked down

Brainwashed by Jim Watt imo, he was taking a pasting

cant of been getting brainwashed from jim watt if i was there

[Hagler2002]

Well you obviously just got caught up in the hometown atmosphere then, I remember sitting listening to Jim Watt and thinking WTF are you on about man! The boy Hunter was getting hammered and Watt had him winning the fight.

[Deserter]

Well you obviously just got caught up in the hometown atmosphere then, I remember sitting listening to Jim Watt and thinking WTF are you on about man! The boy Hunter was getting hammered and Watt had him winning the fight.

I remember that. It was madness.

[Autobarn]

molitor was well rusty aftre being inactive for a long time. he wasn't beating up hunter in the first couple of rounds.

[rhino222]

molitor was well rusty aftre being inactive for a long time. he wasn't beating up hunter in the first couple of rounds.

even though mickey wasnt taking a beating throughout the fight at all. the writing was on the wall from the very start the commentators were in there normal biased moods talking absolute shite there was only ever gonna be one winner but it was a very strange ending especially considering it was a world title fight

my thoughts entirely billy...

[TheCobra]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlnvqQ32Psg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdTFz4hw ... re=related

That's the link to the fight on YouTube for anyone who wants to watch it.

I rewatched as haven't seen it in absolute donkeys. My thoughts now re-watching it are: Jim Watt talks absolute nonsense for one!

1st round: cagey would give it Hunter on slightly higher workrate 1-0 Hunter

2nd round: Molitor, started to establish himself and landed some meaty shots which Sky didn't even care to acknowledge 1-1

3rd Round: Jim Watt: "This is good sensible pressure from Hunter" as he walks into another Molitor punch.... On clean punches landed I have Molitor 3:1 up, Hunter barely actually hitting Molitor clean. Jim Watt continuing to talk utter tripe. Molitor round on much cleaner, classier work. Hunter over-reaching massively with his punches and wide open to counters. 2-1 Molitor

4th Round: Molitor landed impressive body shots which go completely ignored by the Sky commentary who still think Hunter is doing great. Molitor starts to land even more clean power shots and fins a beauty to drop Hunter who is starting to look out of his depth. Looks a heavy knockdown to me and Hunter shows good heart to get up and finish the round. 3-1 Molitor.

5th Round: Hunter still can't land clean, everything is hitting Molitor's arms and gloves or thin air. Again being countered with meaty shots and still looks dazed from previous round. Big left at with 1:40 left to go drops Hunter and he looks forlorn, just basically out of his class cannot take the power of Molitor. Hunter takes the count, looks to his corner shakes his head and lets the count reach 10.

In conclusion, I think I have seen fighters take a LOT more punishment than that and carry on, but how do we know how dazed Hunter was in those knockdown moments. For me he was just way out of his depth, it wasn't a lack of heart, it was simply too big a gulf in class to bridge. In the fights after Molitor though, I certainly did see a large change in Hunter and he never seemed to be able to get himself back into his previous form even against lesser opponents.

[Frankie Gavin]

I hate the way people say I slag boxers off. I'm just stating the truth. What I said was facts. He quit in both fights in his hometown.

However, I wish him luck outside the ring and a happy life. We can't just gloss over his quitjobs though. That's what comes to mind when most think about him, whether they admit it or not.

I remember u telling me I will quit when the going gets tough are u a boxer

[Jacko11]

Hunter stopped Cook in a round.

He had some truly incredible fights down the years. The great shame is that Sky weren't on board a bit earlier. His scraps with Payne and Callaghan were proper collectors items. Ref Ian John Lewis still reckons the Callaghan British title scrap is possibly the best he's officiated. Molitor was a bridge too far. But Mick never did himself any favours with the way he lived outside the ring. My head says Molitor would always have beaten him but my heart can't help wondering if things may have been different had the pair met a year before they did? During his absolute prime, which was all to brief, Michael Hunter was a naughty little pugilist.

I was there for Hunter v Callahan rematch town hall - along with Gatti Ward 1 one of the best fights i ever seen

[n1ebf]

During his absolute prime, which was all to brief, Michael Hunter was a naughty little pugilist.

Think "the scourge of Hartlepool bouncers" just got knocked off the top of the descriptions of Hunter pile

[n1ebf]

some real boll*cks in this thread too btw.