Roc Nation and Matchroom Sports were unable to come to terms with Top Rank for the planned bout between WBO Super Lightweight Champion Maurice Hooker and top contender Alex Saucedo. As a result, the sanctioning body has ordered an August 14th purse bid with a minimum offer of $150,000.
The split is 75/25 in Hooker’s favor. Depending on which side wins the bid, the fight will take place on either DAZN or ESPN.
Hooker (24-0-3, 16 KO), whose prospect status took a hit after he escaped with a questionable split draw against Darleys Perez in 2016, upset Terry Flanagan on the latter’s home turf to win the belt last June. He elected to skip the World Boxing Super Series, which wound up being a good idea after he was arrested for DWI last month.
Saucedo (28-0, 18 KO) put on a hell of a show against veteran Leonardo Zappavigna in OKC, outslugging “Lenny Z” on his way to a seventh-round finish. This is a decent-sized step up for him, but his opponent came up bigger than ever in his last fight, so I wouldn’t recommend sleeping on him.
Assuming Hooker can win his fight with the American justice system beforehand, anyway.
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