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Hooker-Perez added to Ward-Kovalev PPV undercard

Fighters Network
14
Oct

The televised undercard for Sergey Kovalev’s light heavyweight championship with Andre Ward is slowly coming together.

Undefeated junior welterweight prospect Maurice Hooker will take on former titleholder Darleys Perez on the televised portion of Ward-Kovalev Nov. 19 on HBO PPV at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, it was announced on Friday.

Hooker-Perez joins a light-heavyweight match-up of Isaac Chilemba and rising contender Oleksandr Gvozdyk as the other fight to be announced on the PPV undercard, leaving one more slot open. It hasn’t been determined which fight will fill the co-feature bill.

Roc Nation’s Hooker (21-0-2, 16 knockouts) has won his last two fights via first-round knockout — both on Ward undercards — after he captured a split decision over Ghislain Maduma in 2015 at Madison Square Garden. He’s stepping up against Colombia’s Perez, a former lightweight titleholder who drew with former champion Anthony Crolla in 2015 before he was stopped in the fifth-round of a rematch four months later. Perez has also lost to Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2013 and will be rising in weight to face Hooker.



The 33-year-old Perez (33-2-1, 21 KOs) is viewing the fight as perhaps a final effort to remain relevant. “This is my chance get back into the limelight,” he said in a press release. “Facing Maurice Hooker is perhaps my last chance to show that I have a lot left inside the ring. I will move up to the 140-pound division and I will be ready to challenge this young lion who has never fought a guy like me before.”

Hooker is looking to make a statement against Perez and also hopes to honor the memory of Aaron Prior, a two-time junior welterweight champion who died on Sunday of heart disease at the age of 60. “I will be dedicating this fight to Aaron Pyror, who passed away, earlier this week,” Hooker of Dallas said in the release. “I can’t think of a better way to honor ‘The Hawk’s’ legacy than with a big win. I look to be a world-class junior welterweight champion like him.”

 

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