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ERIC HUNTER: "I CAN BE WORLD CHAMPION...I'M SOMETHING TO BE RECKONED WITH"

By Percy Crawford | November 24, 2014
ERIC HUNTER:

"Everybody know that I can fight and they know that I can be world champion. My main thing now is I'm just staying focused. Golden Boy and Bernard gave me a chance to prove to the world that I'm something to be reckoned with," stated featherweight contender Eric Hunter, who talked about his latest victory, his future plans, and more. Check it out!

PC: Congratulations on your 6th round TKO win over Daniel Ramirez. How do you feel, man?

EH: I feel fine. Everything panned out the way I thought it was gonna pan out. I'm just ready to get the ball rolling again.

PC: That was your first fight under the Golden Boy banner. What was the treatment like from them?

EH: It felt good. It felt good to be under the best promotion in the business, and fighting under Bernard, it was a helluva experience. I loved every bit of it. I'm happy that Bernard and Golden Boy gave me a chance to fight on that big card.

PC: Ramirez only had one loss going into the fight with you and you are the first person to stop him. Does that mean anything to you at all?

EH: Um, I don't really know. I was just fighting. I try to look for knockouts every time I fight. It just so happens it happened that night and I trained hard for it. I just stayed focused.

PC: Your trainer, Hamza, told me that your focus was key and if you are focused, you are a problem for anyone in the division. Was that the key to this camp; focus?

EH: Yeah! It's really to just focus on me and not focus on the person that I'm fighting. It's just really to focus on me and for me to get myself right because sometimes I get to doing crazy stuff. I ain't got the best track record, you know, but everybody know that I can fight and they know that I can be world champion. My main thing now is I'm just staying focused. Golden Boy and Bernard gave me a chance to prove to the world that I'm something to be reckoned with.

PC: When you say you don't have the greatest track record, and I'm familiar with the stories about you, but do you feel like a lot of that was just out of frustration because you felt the game hasn't been kind to you up until now?

EH: Yeah, and they were cheating me at the same time. They gave me two losses when I shouldn't have a loss. My first loss to Carlos Vinan was a split decision loss and I didn't lose that fight at all. And then with the Mike Oliver thing, that was just totally wrong. I felt that wasn't right at all. I just felt like they weren't giving me a fair shake. It's like they wanted me out the game. The one loss I do have was against Luis Franco. I took that fight on short notice and I let my frustration get the best of me. But now, I don't think nobody gonna deal with me right now. I think they may have a few fighters that could be a problem, but I'm gonna pass the test.

PC: You now have the backing to do what you've been telling me for quite some time now and that's, once you get on the big stage, you're gonna show everyone that you can fight.

EH: I've always believed that I just needed a chance to show it, and I'm glad again that Oscar, Eric Gomez, Robert Diaz, and Bernard let me show it that night that I can really fight. I'm happy to be with them.

PC: How would you grade your performance?

EH: I don't know. I'm my worst critic. I don't know. It was a fight. Everybody said I looked sensational, but I know I can do better.

PC: You are like the Marshawn Lynch of boxing. You don't want to talk about it; just get in there and fight.

EH: I'm not one of those guys that say I'm gonna do this and do that. I'm not gonna be talking all that trash. I'm a real street dude. That's what anybody will tell you about me, so I'm not running with all that crazy talk and trying to pick fights. My job is to get in that ring and fight. My job ain't to be talking all that trash, even though I can do that. And if it gets to that, I will do that, but I just want to fight and feed my family at the end of the day. That's all I want to do is feed my family. And I definitely wanna give a shout out to my team: Hamza, my lil homies Lil Scooter and Josh. They rode the whole wave with me; my whole camp. Bernard, Malik, it's a lot of guys. My kids, I would really like to put my kids in there because if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be training the way I'm supposed to be training. They really give me the motivation to do the things that I do today. I appreciate all the love I get now. But my kids really make me work hard, so shout out to them: Kadeen, Nameer, Nariah and Asiyah!

PC: Your kids really settled you down from what you used to be.

EH: They really gave me the motivation because I don't know where I was headed if I didn't have them. I would have gone down the wrong road. I know I had a lot of talent in boxing, and by me having them kids, they settled me down a whole lot. I could be dead or in jail, you know what I'm saying? I'll be out selling drugs or something, you know, just to feed 'em. I'm happy that I had my kids. I'm not one of these guys, "Ah these kids." Nah, they didn't stop my money; they helped me make money. They helped me get the money and they gonna be rich one day too.

PC: How long will you be out of the gym before you get back in there?

EH: Eric Gomez asked me right after the fight when is the next time I wanna fight. I told him, "ASAP!" I'm willing to fight today. I ain't have no bruises or nothing, so I was okay.

PC: Talk us through the TKO.

EH: I felt I was getting stronger and stronger as the rounds went on. I knew I could have stepped on the gas, but I was like, why step on the gas when I could give the fans a little bit more. So I outboxed him a little bit, stuck a good jab out, made him miss and made him pay. Then about the 5th round, I started breaking him down because I knew this kid wasn't on my level. So I just took it to him. It was time for him to go because I realized I could hurt him anytime I threw a punch. So I just stepped on the gas to get him out of there and I did that.

PC: It had to be hard to watch Bernard lose in such a one-sided manner, but in general, what does the name Bernard Hopkins mean to you?

EH: Man, listen, just to be on that card alone with him, he's a legend. He's top 5 dead or alive anyway to me, so for him to come to me and say, "Outlaw, you fighting on this card," that meant so much to me. And even though he lost, he still won to me. He's 50 years old and that dude couldn't knock him out. They were writing Bernard off saying that man was gonna get knocked out in 3 rounds and all that type of crazy stuff. This guy is a legend and I was hurt. When Bernard seen me, he was like, "Damn Outlaw, you all messed up," and I was messed up because I got a lot of love for Bernard. And he showed me a lot of tricks and trades in this game and I want to pick up wherever he leaves off. If I could do just half of the stuff that he's done; you look at his age and his career, he's not supposed to be where he's at today. He's not supposed to be here. So if anybody has anything negative to say about him, they just ignorant themselves. I'm just so happy to know the guy and for him to give me the chance he gave me, I salute him because they didn't have to give me no chance at all. They could have kept me on the streets. I'm happy for that.

PC: Congratulations again. Best of luck in your next go round and keep me posted. Is there anything else you want to add?

EH: I wanna thank everybody; all of my supporters. Golden Boy again, Bernard Hopkins, Malik, Hamza, everybody that's in my camp, my friends, my kids again, and everybody for sticking with me and showing me the love. To all of my fans, keep supporting me and keep rocking out with me and I promise you I'm going to make everything right. I promise!



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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