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Junior welterweight
contender Hammerin’ Hank Lundy, 26-5-1, 13 KOs, has tons of
talent, a hard head, and a boat-load of confidence., and
he’s not afraid to spread the word on his own behalf with a
lot of brash talk – before, during and after a fight. His
hands are fast, but his mouth is probably faster.
Throughout his nearly
ten-year professional boxing career Lundy has always
envisioned his eventual rise to world champion status as one
of life’s certainties. He has had his ups and downs along
the way, but has managed to stay focused on his goal,
eagerly awaiting an opportunity back up all of his
self-reliant swagger.
Prime opportunities
have come his way before, although never one as big as
Saturday night’s clash with WBO junior welterweight champion
Terence “Bud” Crawford, 27-0, 19 KOs, at Madison Square
Garden Theater. The championship fight will be televised
live by HBO.
Although Crawford has
been avoided by some of today’s top fighters, Lundy jumped
at the chance to fight him. No surprise there. Hank is
known as a guy who takes on all comers, especially if the
fight presents an opportunity to prove something to the
world.
Lundy exudes
confidence. He truly seems to believe that he cannot be
beaten. Point to any of his five career setbacks, and Hank
can debate away any notion of defeat in all of them.
Fighters can be like that, but Hank is convinced that he
holds every possible advantage over Crawford, a guy who most
of the boxing world thinks will chew Lundy up and spit him
out.
Thus far, Lundy has
achieved quite a bit of success. He’s won regional title
belts in two different weight classes, earned #1 ranking at
lightweight, and a top five spot at junior welter. He’s
faced solid competition and still boasts a good-looking
record.
On Saturday, Lundy gets
his chance to show the world. The question is whether he
can back up his words with a life-changing performance.
Some think Lundy is crazy for even thinking he can win, but
this is the beauty of Hank Lundy. Confidence oozes from
every pore and his date with Crawford is exactly the moment
that he has been waiting for.
To Lundy, Saturday
night’s bout isn’t the big-time East Coast debut for the
Nebraska-bred champ, as Crawford’s promoter, Top Rank, has
planned it to be. No. Lundy only sees the fight as “Hammer
Time”, the moment when the world catches up with Hank’s
opinion of exactly how good he is.
“This is what I’ve been
waiting for,” Lundy said. “But, like I said, the excitement
hasn’t really hit me. It’s really going to hit me when they
announce me, “the new WBO champion of the world”. That’s
when it’s really going to hit me, but not right now. I know
it’s for the world title. Everything is up right now. My
level is up. I’m ready to go, to show the world what
Hammerin’ Hank can do.”
I spoke with Lundy at
the Marian Anderson Recreation Center, the place in South
Philly where Lundy’s career began as an 18 year old amateur
boxer.
DID THIS COME OUT OF
NOWHERE FOR YOU?
“When his fight (date) was announced, I knew it was a
possibility,” Lundy said. “We were going to get it. I was
already training for a December fight that fell out. So,
when this came up, we pulled back a little bit from
training. I was down to 144 already. Tip top shape,
getting ready to make 135. So, we ready!”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF
CRAWFORD AS A FIGHTER?
“Well at the end of the day, I’m not taking nothing away
from him, he’s doing what he’s supposed to do when they put
these guys in front of him,” Lundy said. “But when you
fight Hammerin’ Hank, that’s a different mindset. You know,
you fightin’ a guy that can do everything you can do. A guy
that can fight southpaw; a guy that can fight right handed.
A guy that’s got fast hands and a guy that’s got punching
power in both hands. It’s a different type of fight. We
ain’t in Omaha. We on the East Coast, baby, and I’m about
to give him an East Coast butt-whipping. ”
STILL, YOU HAVE TO
CONSIDER IT YOUR TOUGHEST FIGHT, RIGHT?
“It’s like a regular fight to me,” Lundy said. “At the
end of the day, I know this boy, he ain’t fought nobody of
my caliber. You know, the only person really on his resume
was Gamboa, and I feel as though if Gamboa wouldn’t have had
a year off, he would have closed the show. Gamboa showed
that he (Crawford) can be hurt and out boxed.”
ARE YOU THE
CRAWFORD’S TOUGEST OPPONENT TO DATE?
“Oh, most definitely,” Lundy said. “I’m his toughest
opponent and they know that. They try to down play it like
I’m not, but I really am. You look around the board,
everybody he done fought, he tried to get somebody that I
fought or somebody that kind of mimic me in a way, to
prepare for me coming up to this fight. I seen right
through it. I knew this fight was going to happen. That’s
why I kept putting it out there, and you see it happened.”
DO YOU LIKE BEING
THE UNDERDOG IN THIS FIGHT?
“I like the underdog (role),” Lundy said. “Ain’t no
pressure on my back. Hammerin’ Hank going to come in and do
what Hammerin’ Hank going to do. But it’s just going to be
a little more in the smart department, being that it’s for a
world title. You’re not going to see the average guy that
you see go out there fightin’. There’s going to be a little
more intensity, a little bit more pressure, a little bit
more hungry.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL
ABOUT FIGHTING AT THE GARDEN?
“Not many fighters get a chance to fight at a special place
like that,” Lundy said. “That’s one of the biggest places
besides the Blue Horizon to be a part of. It’s a dream come
true, and I’m going to make it even more special when I go
out there and win this world title.”
HAVE YOU FOUGHT
ANYONE THAT REMINDS YOU OF CRAWFORD?
“I can clearly say Richar Abril (Lundy W10 in 2010),”
Lundy said. “If you look at Richar Abril, I think Richar
Abril is a better fighter than Crawford. A guy that’s rangy
and can box. The only thing that Richar Abril don’t do is
switch. So, hands down, I can say Richar Abril. You can
say southpaw, Richard Lopez. He was a big puncher that I
beat, defended my NABF title. There’s a lot of guys out
there that compare to him. Most people say, “Who have I
fought?”. If you look at my resume, I have the better
resume. You know, he ain’t fought nobody.”
WHY DID IT TAKE SO
LONG FOR THIS TITLE SHOT TO COME?
“If I have had a big time promoter Hammerin’ Hank would
have won, had his hand raised high,” Lundy said. “At the
end of the day, the world seen it. HBO seen it. That’s why
I’m back on. None of these guys have beat me. Nobody has
kicked Hammerin’ Hank’s butt. This fight, the 27th
at the Garden, it ain’t going to be no different. Nobody’s
going to kick my butt, and I’m going to go out there and
make a statement – in fashion.”
DO YOU SEE THIS AS
YOUR CHANCE TO FINALLY PROVE YOURSELF TO EVERYONE?
“Most definitely,” Lundy said. “A lot of these champs,
or so called champs, are champs because of their promoter.
At the end of the day, I came up the hard way. I’ll put it
like this, if any of these fighters took the road I took,
they wouldn’t be champ today. They wouldn’t face the
adversity that I have been through in my career. Most of
these guys who are A-Side fighters, haven’t had to go to
Russia to fight somebody in their back yard. I fought a
guy, Viktor Postal. I beat him, but they gave him the
decision. And ya’ll can look at that on YouTube. This was
another top-ranked guy that I took to school. A long, rangy
guy, I took to school. So, you know, these guys don’t have
what I have. If I had been with a big time promoter,
Hammerin’ Hank would have been champion years ago, and the
world knows that. But I don’t down play my career. I love
the way my career went. Because fights like this, when I
get my world title, there ain’t going to be no nay-say, or
people critiquing me. Everything I fought for, I got and I
earned. It’s going to be a lot sweeter. Ain’t nobody going
to say nothing. They will sit there and I’ll point to them
like Muhammad Ali did when he knocked out Sonny Liston
(laughs). What he do? He started pointing and he tell
everybody ‘I told you so’, and that’s what I’m gonna do.
It’s going to be bittersweet.”
HOW WILL IT FEEL TO
BECOME ANOTHER CHAMPION FROM PHILLY?
“That’s going to feel good,” Lundy said. “Coming from
the City of Philadelphia, especially in South Philly. You
know, I’m South Philly owned, and it’s going to feel real
good to bring a world title back to South Philly. Not just
Philadelphia, but South Philly. That’s going to be a good
feeling and even make life different for my family. I’m
already doing it now, but you know, this would be a bigger
life change.”
DOES IT BOTHER YOU
THAT MOST PEOPLE THINK YOU DON’T HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST
CRAWFORD?
“At the end of the day, I’m not worrying about that
because, at the end of the day, I’m going to go out there
and I’m going to go make a statement, and that’s win,” Lundy
said. “So losing is not on my mind. That’s not in my
vocabulary. Every fight, I go out there and fight. Losing
is not on my mind. That’s not in my vocabulary. If losing
was in a state of mind with me, I wouldn’t be where I am
today. A lot of people counted me out. They said I
couldn’t do this. I started at the age of 18. Turned pro
at 23. And now you see a young, African American that
started late in this game, on TV, HBO, and living a dream.
It’s how bad you want things in life. I’ve never settled
for less. Just being on ESPN. I always wanted to be
better, and be great. And I felt I could do it. So, come
on the 27th of February, I’m setting up to be
world champion, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
DO YOU BELIEVE YOU
CAN KNOCK OUT CRAWFORD?
“Oh, I know I can knock him out,” Lundy said. “If you
seen what little Gamboa did, and I think I’m punching way
harder than Gamboa. I’m much bigger than Gamboa. There’s a
lot of things that you’re going to see Crawford get
exploited on that Gamboa was doing, but couldn’t finish and
do. You know, I got more hunger. This is what I’ve been
fighting for, a world title. And now that I got my shot,
I’m not going to let it go. I can tell you, this fight on
the 27th, Crawford is going to be taken to war.”
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