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After burning up more than three years of his professional prime, Philly featherweight Eric Hunter, 22-5, 11 KOs, finally returned to the ring on Friday with a technical points victory over 121-bout Mexican journeyman German Meraz, 62-57-2, 39 KOs, 1 NC, at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, WA. Hunter shook off any existing ring rust from his lengthy sabbatical and scored one knockdown before a cut from a clash of heads forced the scheduled six-rounder to go to the cards in round five. Hunter was the aggressor from the start of the bout and out-worked the rugged Meraz throughout the contest. In round three, Hunter landed a left hook that sent Meraz to the canvas. The Mexican survived knockdown and the fight continued for almost another two rounds. In the fifth round, the fighters accidentally banged heads and Meraz came away with a cut that was bad enough to end the fight early. All three judges had Hunter in the lead and gave the come-backing boxer the technical decision after five rounds. This was Hunter's first appearance since his 2016 world title fight decision loss to Lee Selby in the UK. Hunter, one of Philly's most talented fighters, has always struggled to stay active. It was great to see him back in action, and hopefully he will continue to fight regularly. His return came better late than never, but Hunter must be active to make another run at a significant fight. Let's hope new promoter Sailta Promotions can do the job of keeping Hunter in the ring. Special thanks to boxing scribe Ricardo Ibarra of FightNews.com for his unpublished ringside notes on the fight, beow: Former world title challenger Eric Hunter (22-4, 11 KOs) shook the rust off after three years away from the ring, taking a five round technical decision win over journeyman German Meraz (62-57-2, 39 KOs) in a walk out bout. Hunter pressed the action from the start, walking his opponent down and popping him with accurate shots. He dropped Meraz in the third round with a left hook but could not follow up after Meraz went into a defensive posture. After an accidental headbutt opened a cut on Meraz in the fifth, the ringside doctor advised referee Joel Scobie to stop the fight at 2:40 of the round, forcing the fight to go to the scorecards. All three judges had the bout for Hunter, with scores of 50-44. |
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