Michael Hunter didn’t waste any time in seeking out his next target.
Having been out of the ring for more than a year, Las Vegas’ Hunter once again climbed through the ropes for his first win in more than 15 months as he scored a 4th round knockout of Shawn Laughery. The heavyweight fight took place last Friday evening in Galveston, Texas, with the second-generation heavyweight agreeing to appear on the undercard as means to end his inactive stretch in hopes of making noise in the year ahead.
First on the list for the second-generation heavyweight is a longtime divisional rival whom has been on his radar far too long.
“I would love to fight Dillian Whyte,” Hunter told Fite’s Matt Striker following his win, which aired live on Fite Pay-Per-View.
The latest hit came in supporting capacity to Gilberto Ramirez’s own ring return in a 10th round knockout of Alfonso Lopez. While Ramirez sought to establish himself as a player in the light heavyweight division, Hunter aims to do the same at heavyweight. He’s proved his worth since moving up from cruiserweight, where Hunter suffered his lone career defeat in a 12-round loss to then-reigning 200-pound champ Oleksandr Usyk.
An unbeaten eight-fight streak includes a knockout win over Martin Bakole and a sound points win over Sergey Kuzmin, both of whom were unbeaten at the time they faced Hunter. Prior to Friday came a hard-fought 12-round draw with Alexander Povetkin, who has since emerged as a consensus Top 5 heavyweight following an off-the-canvas 5th round knockout of Whyte this past August in Brentwood, England.
The two were due to rematch this past November, only for Povetkin to test positive for COVID-19. Hunter raised his hand to step in and save the show, and again offered his services once it was realized the rescheduled January 30 date wouldn’t hold up either.
Whyte remains on the hunt for a new opponent as Povetkin won’t be ready in time for a bout in January or even February. That once again leads back to the one heavyweight truly willing to take on the entire division.
“They’ve been saying he’s the boogeyman. I guess I outboogied the boogeyman,” quips Hunter. “I called out Dillian Whyte, I even offered to step in on short notice for this next fight. I fought to a draw with Alexander Povetkin. He got knocked out by Povetkin.
“I want to fight Dillian Whyte next but really anyone can get it.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox