BoxRec

From Skysports.com

Michael Hunter is ready to step up his quest for a world title.

The European super-bantamweight champion was made to work hard by Tuncay Kaya before stopping him in the ninth, but now wants to move up to the next level.

He is rated in the top 10 by the WBC, IBF and WBO and believes it is now time to justify those rankings by moving away from the European scene to take on the best the division has to offer.

"I can raise my game to world level," he said. "I don't get involved in that side of things, I just turn up and fight who is but in front of me. But I am not scared of anyone - I never have been.

"I will fight anyone, any time. If they bring me a world champion I'll fight him."

Hunter was cut above the eye in the sixth round but eventually ground down Kaya before finishing it with a crisp body shot in round nine.

And although he was forced to dig in in familiar fashion, the Hartlepool man was adamant that his toughness is what sets him apart from the rest of the European scene.

"That was a really hard fight. He is tough as nails and I hit him with everything and he hit me with some decent shots," he said.

"If I wasn't as tough as I am I maybe wouldn't have got through. Other fighters would have folded against him. But it is another good win.

"He was up to the European level of fighters and that is what I have to overcome if I am going to go onto to world level."

Before he does though, the champion wants to put his feet up.

The Kaya win was his third since March and having fired out a warning to the world's best super-bantamweights he is now looking to take a well-earned break.

"I have had three fights in four months and if you include the Esham Pickering fight (in which he won the belt last October) I have had four fights in eight months," he said.

"These fights have been so short coming so now I think we will take some time off."

As long as he fights Dunne after that time off.

apart from the world champion that challenged him when esham pulled out !!!!!

Hunter's not world class. He's no Paul Ingle. Just like - for the moment - Nicky Cook is no Brodie. Feed him to Asiku, I say. He'd get gobbled up. Everyone has to try & impose their ego onto the world, but I think some of our British lads are flattering themselves. When they get these world title shots I wouldn't like to see what would happen.

Let's see our top Brits fight each other first. When the Macca-Hobson fight happened, I no longer cared whether Enzo was world class. I just enjoyed what was a classic, classy fight.

Title of this thread needs changed "Hunter looks enviously at world title from afar - always out of reach...sigh"

achybreaky wrote:Title of this thread needs changed "Hunter looks enviously at world title from afar - always out of reach...sigh"

Hunter is #4 with the IBF and the #1 and #2 spots are vacant.........as is the title itself .

Meaning Hunter could very easily find himself fighting for the vacant title or in an eliminater .

viciousmaussa wrote:Hunter's not world class. He's no Paul Ingle. Just like - for the moment - Nicky Cook is no Brodie. Feed him to Asiku, I say. He'd get gobbled up. Everyone has to try & impose their ego onto the world, but I think some of our British lads are flattering themselves. When they get these world title shots I wouldn't like to see what would happen.

Let's see our top Brits fight each other first. When the Macca-Hobson fight happened, I no longer cared whether Enzo was world class. I just enjoyed what was a classic, classy fight.

Enzo was too limited and was getting wobbled by Hobson a few times but Hobson's inactivity made it a close one although I thought Hobson won.

Cook probably has too much experiance for Asiku, he's not even a Brit. Way the WBC robbed him of his eliminator!

Max Molyneux wrote:

viciousmaussa wrote:Hunter's not world class. He's no Paul Ingle. Just like - for the moment - Nicky Cook is no Brodie. Feed him to Asiku, I say. He'd get gobbled up. Everyone has to try & impose their ego onto the world, but I think some of our British lads are flattering themselves. When they get these world title shots I wouldn't like to see what would happen.

Let's see our top Brits fight each other first. When the Macca-Hobson fight happened, I no longer cared whether Enzo was world class. I just enjoyed what was a classic, classy fight.

Enzo was too limited and was getting wobbled by Hobson a few times but Hobson's inactivity made it a close one although I thought Hobson won.

Cook probably has too much experiance for Asiku, he's not even a Brit. Way the WBC robbed him of his eliminator!

Asiku looks great beating up guys below Cook's level. It's jumping the gun a bit, but his repertoire and technique appear world class. He has been in decent company, and I've read that he lost a dubious decision to Rakkiatgym a few yrs ago in Thailand. I would love to see him in with Pickering or Hunter. If he could batter them he'd be ready for Cook. Cook - for the moment - looks like he can't go beyond European level.

Well Cook could of tired beyond Euro Level but Diaz took a Guerrero rematch and the We Be Crooks made it an eliminator too when it was supposed to be Cook v Diaz!

Max Molyneux wrote:Well Cook could of tired beyond Euro Level but Diaz took a Guerrero rematch and the We Be Crooks made it an eliminator too when it was supposed to be Cook v Diaz!

Yes, but Cook pulled out injured. Not all the WBC's fault there.

You guys r proper miserible lads aint ya, the guy is English get behind him instead of slagging him every chance u get as u do every other fighter. no matter what they do they never get credit of you lot...have any of u big mouths ever boxed?

its not about if we have boxed or not, this is a forum of opinion, the thread is on about hunter challenging for a world title, we are saying he is not world class.

we do not underestimate his achievments at domestic level and slightly beyond, fair play to the lad, game trier yes, world class no !!

Can't help but compare Hunter to Paul Ingle. Nowhere near as good, is Hunter

BigEars wrote:

achybreaky wrote:Title of this thread needs changed "Hunter looks enviously at world title from afar - always out of reach...sigh"

Hunter is #4 with the IBF and the #1 and #2 spots are vacant.........as is the title itself .

Meaning Hunter could very easily find himself fighting for the vacant title or in an eliminater .

Its one thing fighting for a title.... another actually winning it.

Dont get me wrong i quite like the way hunter fights and he seemed a nice nough fella in his interview the other night giving kaya a lot of credit but i personally dont think hes world champ material.

Rankings are unfortunately no true reflection of ability anymore.

Jacko11 wrote:You guys r proper miserable lads ain't ya, the guy is English get behind him instead of slagging him every chance u get as u do every other fighter. no matter what they do they never get credit of you lot...have any of u big mouths ever boxed?

Jacko mate your right, most people on here want to take a step back and be a fan again and stop trying to look at all angles of things and slagging there fellow country men off, some of you have too much to say and its total 30+ male bullshit, Fvck sake if any other British fighter was gonna get a world title or eliminator soon i would be over the moon even if i wasn't a fan, i would be happy just because he is British.

Stop hating... I mean who else is making strides as much as Hunter? His rankings say it for itself. Who else apart from the big names has rankings like that by the governing bodies, i come on this forum as a fan and knew hardly anything about boxing, now im pretty clued up about things after 2 year on this board, but this board has changed so much its unbelievable. If any of you ever met the bloke you'd be all nicey nicey to him etc, stop being idiots cause hes not from near where you live.

As I've said when he was 10-0 Micky was gonna do well and conquer British level at least... Im sitting here now couple of years down the line seeing him stopping 3 rated Europeans.

Stop pickin faults with the lad, hes British shouldn't you support your own countrymen, i mean he put in 1 shady performance kinda on Friday night but all his others have been top draw entertainment.

achybreaky wrote:

BigEars wrote:

achybreaky wrote:Title of this thread needs changed "Hunter looks enviously at world title from afar - always out of reach...sigh"

Hunter is #4 with the IBF and the #1 and #2 spots are vacant.........as is the title itself .

Meaning Hunter could very easily find himself fighting for the vacant title or in an eliminater .

Its one thing fighting for a title.... another actually winning it.

Dont get me wrong i quite like the way hunter fights and he seemed a nice nough fella in his interview the other night giving kaya a lot of credit but i personally dont think hes world champ material.

Rankings are unfortunately no true reflection of ability anymore.

I don't believe he is world champ material either really and I think Bernard Dunne would take him , and I don't believe Dunne is near the standard of Vasquez or Sithchatchawel .

However I'm not sure how good Vabuza(#3 with IBF) is , if he isn't too tasty Hunter could find himself the IBF Super Bantamweight champion .

U know what i spoke to Micky yesterday he said he felt very weak in that fight so he has gone to Spain for a well deserved break....lets remeber he has stopped his '3' challenger for the European title
You know the funny thing is Micky said after i asked what he though about Dunne ' I don't know nothing about him Jacko' 'Is he English?'
Micky then said there's only one way to find out who is the best bring him on...quality

Jacko11 wrote:U know what i spoke to Micky yesterday he said he felt very weak in that fight so he has gone to Spain for a well deserved break....lets remeber he has stopped his '3' challenger for the European title
You know the funny thing is Micky said after i asked what he though about Dunne ' I don't know nothing about him Jacko' 'Is he English?'
Micky then said there's only one way to find out who is the best bring him on...quality

Hahaha, good stuff man. Did ya have a good night the other night? Did benny have a good wedding?

Ya Hunter nor his team seemed to be afraid of anyone really but Dunne is so many steps ahead of Jailauov , Guartos and Kaya .

The last guy Dunne fought (David Martinez) was well above the level of any of those guys , and Dunne just outclassed and out-fought him for 8 rounds(stopping him in the 8th) . Martinez didn't even win a round .

Other noticable wins for Dunne are : UD against Adrian Vladez , TKO 5 Jim Betts , PTS Yuri Vorinin , TKO 2 Sean Hughes(a common opponent between the two , Hunter stopped him in 6) ,TKO 6 Noel Wilders and UD Sergio Carlos Santillan .

Dunne is a boxer puncher , he loves to make other fighters miss and pay but he is equally adapt at going at them . His best shot is the left hook to the body , although he also has a good straight right .

Dunne was at his most impressive in his last fight , he was in with a guy who has extremely quick hands but Dunne's reflexes were so sharp Martinez couldn't even get near to hitting him clean . One downpoint in his last fight was showboating which I certainly wouldn't want to see . Although it was entertaing at one point where Dunne made Martinez miss 5 shots in a row Ali style(hands down chin leaning backs , the type of thing if your caught your fucked) and simply cracked his neck after Martinez had missed every shot in the combo .

I just can't wait for this match and I hope it happens before the mandatory defence against pickering . It would be a lot better fight than Hunter v Pickering(not that , that would be a bad fight)

Razor wrote:

Jacko11 wrote:You guys r proper miserable lads ain't ya, the guy is English get behind him instead of slagging him every chance u get as u do every other fighter. no matter what they do they never get credit of you lot...have any of u big mouths ever boxed?

Jacko mate your right, most people on here want to take a step back and be a fan again and stop trying to look at all angles of things and slagging there fellow country men off, some of you have too much to say and its total 30+ male bullshit, Fvck sake if any other British fighter was gonna get a world title or eliminator soon i would be over the moon even if i wasn't a fan, i would be happy just because he is British.

Stop hating... I mean who else is making strides as much as Hunter? His rankings say it for itself. Who else apart from the big names has rankings like that by the governing bodies, i come on this forum as a fan and knew hardly anything about boxing, now im pretty clued up about things after 2 year on this board, but this board has changed so much its unbelievable. If any of you ever met the bloke you'd be all nicey nicey to him etc, stop being idiots cause hes not from near where you live.

As I've said when he was 10-0 Micky was gonna do well and conquer British level at least... Im sitting here now couple of years down the line seeing him stopping 3 rated Europeans.

Stop pickin faults with the lad, hes British shouldn't you support your own countrymen, i mean he put in 1 shady performance kinda on Friday night but all his others have been top draw entertainment.

I personally dont think there is a lot of hating going on here and everbody seems to be in agreement that hunter has exciting fights and is a decent operator but the general concensus (i obviously dont speak for everybody) is that people are not quite sold on the fact that he is world class material if he gos on to win a world title then fair play to him and i will be the first to say well done and hold my hands up and admit i was wrong.

I dont think it has anything to with the fact that he isnt near where i am from (ireland) im just giving my opinion. I just hope dunne and hunter get it on sometime this year and i for one will be there wether its in Hartlepool or Dublin cos its will be a top quality fight between two young fighters and who wouldnt want that at the end of the day.

So what if he isnt world class, no one is saying he is or was. I mean people on here mention guys from down south on here and i for one dont discard him just cause i dont think the guy is world class, Hunter is doin more than most of British boxers, and who gives a hell if he aint world class. Wouldnt it be great if he got a title shot, the lad from Hartlepools dream?

I like Hunter the fighter and he seems like a great bloke in interviews - but I can still say he isn't going to trouble the world's elite can't I or do I have to back him against King Kong because we were born in the same country?

All the best to him and i'd be chuffed to be proved wrong but I think he may have found his level

Razor wrote:So what if he isnt world class, no one is saying he is or was. I mean people on here mention guys from down south on here and i for one dont discard him just cause i dont think the guy is world class, Hunter is doin more than most of British boxers, and who gives a hell if he aint world class. Wouldnt it be great if he got a title shot, the lad from Hartlepools dream?

Your the only person that is going on about where he is from, im not english so dont really about any geographical bias you are mentioning so i will stick to my opinion and say best of luck to him but dunne will have his euro title by the end of the year and this will all be moot.

Hunter is living on borrowed time, he performs well for somebody with limited talent and I think that his workrate covers for a lack of any real boxing skill....and dont jump on me here, he has had 3 defences of his title all against VERY poor opposition and I think his camp are running scared of Dunne after his last performance. If he does decide to take Dunne or is forced to he can say adios to his title as it will have a shamrock on it by the end of 2006......

Razor wrote:So what if he isnt world class, no one is saying he is or was. I mean people on here mention guys from down south on here and i for one dont discard him just cause i dont think the guy is world class, Hunter is doin more than most of British boxers, and who gives a hell if he aint world class. Wouldnt it be great if he got a title shot, the lad from Hartlepools dream?

no one's discarding him. most ppl just think he shouldn't fight for a world title. why not keep him at euro level and have him in good fights with guys like Nicky Cook. I mean all the good british fighters when they get near Euro level want to start shotting for all these different world titles. wouldn't british boxing be better if the top british guys would all fight each other first instead of various imports who few ppl know about? hunter is good and he is in good fights. i look at a aguy like Asiku and see world class promise, not so much in Hunter though