"I'm not shying away from nothing. I want what's rightfully mine and that's that world title. If you can't respect it, middle finger up to you; come see me. This guy Danny fighting is a bum (laughing). Plain and simple! But I'ma give him a little credit because any man that get in the ring and fight got a lot of heart, but at the end of the day, come on, man. This man is not even in the top 77 in the world. Are you serious? You got me and Herrera, we in the top 5 with the WBC. Why are we overlooked? Are you serious? I don't respect that... The one thing about it, Danny can't do what I do in Philly. I'm in every hood and I get respect all over because I'm in the hood and I'm the realest," stated lightweight and jr. welterweight contender Hank Lundy, who fired shots at fellow Philly-native and unified jr. welterweight champion Danny Garcia regarding his next opponent. Lundy had a lot to get off his chest and you don't want to miss what else he had to say!
PC: You have had two fights this year, two up and two down, and now you're looking for number three.
HL: Well, before I got into them fights, me and...what's the bol, Terence Crawford, we got on Facebook and went at it, and he said after his fight with Ricky Burns, he was gonna step in the ring with "Hammerin" Hank. What ticks me off is, he fights a guy that's been off for a year and some change, but he won't fight a guy that's up in the rankings who is actively fighting and destroying people. I can respect he won, but at the end of the day, why he ain't fight Hank Lundy? Another guy out there is Danny Garcia. I kind of laid off of him because he a Philly brother, but at the end of the day, I'm ranked up in the WBC; I'm ranked in the lightweight division and in the 140-pound division. So I'm ranked up there in the top 5, but you pick a guy that's not even in the top 70 in the world. I'm in the top 10 at 140; I'm #5 in the world at 135. These guys straight running from me, man.
PC: You hit a point in your career where you said the games were over and you were able to show it in the ring. You have definitely done that. Do you think since you made that statement and backed it up, guys have backed off of you?
HL: You know what it is! I'm a bad boy in this game, man. People think I'm an ESPN fighter, but Hank Lundy is on his grind. I'm one of the most feared fighters in the world, so just imagine me getting one of them titles. They know they won't be able to get 'em back, so they gonna try to blackball me and keep me out, but at the end of the day, I'm knocking at the door; somebody gotta step up and give me a shot at a world title. I beat Richard Abril; he running from me scared. All of these guys in the lightweight division is scared, and even at 140. I'm looking to go to 147. That's how sure I am of my game.
PC: I know you felt like when you fought Ajose that Danny was avoiding Ajose at the time.
HL: I seen that on Twitter when they said Ajose was 30-0 and he was #1 and he was supposed to fight Danny for his belts, but he kept on blackballing him and kicking him down. So what did they do, which I didn't like? They put Matthysse on him. And Matthysse fought him and it was a helluva fight. They were going back and forth and then the referee stopped it. But again, "Hammerin" Hank was supposed to fight Matthysse, but the old manager messed up that fight. I just won that case and got rewarded from that situation. But I fought Ajose and I destroyed him. I'm tired of cleaning up all of these guys work, you know (laughing).
PC: I heard you gave Adrien Broner some real good work. You have been in there with some tough guys, both in the gym and in the ring, and from what I hear, you give them all they could handle.
HL: Listen, like I tell these guys, man, "Hammerin" Hank don't cherry pick. I'm from the hood, man. In the streets, there ain't no cherry picking. Anybody that you are in the streets rumbling, it's open class and that's how I treat the fight game. I don't care who you are or where you from, I'll come in your hometown; whether you got a belt or no belt, I don't care. Anywhere you can get it. I'm the realest in this boxing stuff, man.
PC: That was my next question. Would you have been willing to go to Omaha, Nebraska for a fight with Terence Crawford?
HL: Listen, it would have been easy work and I guarantee the fans would have been mad, but I don't give a damn. I would have went in there, took that title, and knocked him out.
PC: You have had your fair share of social media beefs with guys like Karim Mayfield and Terence Crawford and his trainer. It is sad we don't get to see some of these fights because I feel like boxing doesn't have it's fair share of bad blood fights anymore.
HL: One thing about me, and everybody know, I ain't shy about anything and that comes from me and my upbringing. I ain't cherry picking nothing. I'm one of the guys that wants to fight the best. This another topic I want to get to; everybody talk about, "I leave it to my management team and let them pick the fight." First of all, your management team don't pick your fight. They advise you to do certain fights, but at the end of the day, you got the say so. They wanna pick this fight because they think it's easier. One thing about me, my people come up with two fighters and I pick the toughest fight. I want the best. I never took no easy way out. They gave me Ajose, who had 31 wins and 1 loss, and then they gave me a guy that was 17-10. I said, "Give me Ajose." And y'all seen what I did to Ajose, I destroyed him.
PC: I remember you wanting the Molina rematch as well. You never got it, but you definitely wanted it.
HL: I was begging for it. He told ESPN, "Oh, I'm done with that part of my career." He a punk. I seen him up in Vegas. We walking and I didn't even see him. He walks me down, "Ah, Hank Lundy, Hank Lundy. How you doing? I just wanted to tell you much success on your career." Don't run up to me, man. I wanna fight you. We not friends. The same thing happened in Vegas when Karim Mayfield seen me walking up The Strip and he almost got punched in his face for walking up on me. I told him, "I'm always on go. This not just some Twitter stuff; I'm always on go. You see me in the streets and run up on me, you can get it." And he was about to see right then and there and he was like, "Nah, nah, bro, I seen you; I just wanted to acknowledge you." I'm always on go. I never have to get ready to fight. This is how I am. This is not a game to me. It's easy work. And I just put in 12 miles on some easy work shit. I'm on go; I'm ready.
PC: So the fight you want most...well, it sounds like all of 'em, but the all Philly fight with Danny is top priority?
HL: It's time! I backed up off him. I said, "You know what? That's Philly against Philly stuff, you know," but now that I'm at the top at 140 and 135, it don't matter. If you in that weight division and you're in my way, you're going to get it. I'm not doing that no more. I'm not shying away from nothing. I want what's rightfully mine and that's that world title. If you can't respect it, middle finger up to you; come see me. This guy Danny fighting is a bum (laughing). Plain and simple! But I'ma give him a little credit because any man that get in the ring and fight got a lot of heart, but at the end of the day, come on, man. This man is not even in the top 77 in the world. Are you serious? You got me and Herrera, we in the top 5 with the WBC. Why are we overlooked? Are you serious? I don't respect that.
PC: What did you take away from the Crawford and Gamboa fight?
HL: It was a good fight. I seen Gamboa actually hurt him. At the end of the day, I'm gonna keep it 100, it was a good fight for Terence, but he was kind of small. I looked at the weigh-ins and Crawford was way bigger than Gamboa, and at 135, I'm a monster. So fight a guy like me. Don't fight a guy moving up! Fight a legitimate 135-pounder that's putting in work like Hank Lundy! And now I hear he talking about moving up to 140? Don't bitch up, man; don't run! I'm waiting to whoop that ass.
PC: You talking about covering 3 weight classes; that's some Paul Williams stuff, right.
HL: That's the best way because a lot of these guys are cherry picking and they want to let their manager handle their business. Man, you got the say so at the end of the day. A lot of these guys...excuse my language, but they acting like females, man. I want to say the other word.
PC: You on FightHype, man; you say it, I print it.
HL: I got you. Well, a lot of these guys are turning into bitches, man. They don't want to fight. If you don't want to fight and go back to the old days and respect the game of boxing, then get the fuck out the way. You got real hungry dudes like me that's in the hood every day. The one thing about it, Danny can't do what I do in Philly. I'm in every hood and I get respect all over because I'm in the hood and I'm the realest.
PC: You change your number more than I change shirts, so if you change it, keep me updated. Give me something in closing my man.
HL: Oh yeah, you know, we gonna keep on exposing them. I'm down with J Prince Boxing. We on the map and look forward for some big stuff coming this year. We about to do some big stuff this year. Just know I'm coming for everybody from 135 to 140 and I might even test my hand at 147. I'm gonna tell you this, don't be shocked if later on down the line I whoop Floyd's ass because I don't give 2 shits about him. Ain't no bitch in me and they know when they see me, I'm on go. "Hammerin" Hank coming to a city and town near you! If you see me, don't run because you always know it's "Hammer Time."
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]