The media gathered on Wednesday afternoon at the Dream Hotel days before WBO Jr. Welterweight titlist Maurice Hooker will be defending his belt against undefeated challenger Mikkel LesPierre at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York on Saturday March 9, live on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports in the UK. (photo by Ed Mulholland).

Hooker (25-0-3 17 KOs) won his title on the road by ripping it from champion Terry Flanagan in Manchester, England in June and then packed his bags again for his first defense, a thrilling win over local favorite Alex Saucedo in Oklahoma City in November, Hooker climbing off the canvas in the second round to stop Saucedo in the seventh.

Hooker hits the road again to put his belt on the line against Brooklyn’s LesPierre (21-0-1 10KOs) but ‘Mighty Mo’, who has predicted a devastating KO win over the challenger, wants to come home in his next fight – and believes he can do so in a major fight that will stake his claim to being the best in the world at 140lbs.

“It would mean so much to me to fight in Dallas as a champion,” said Hooker. “I want to show the kids in my neighborhood that don’t have anyone to look up to that they can look at me – I’m a champion that they can follow and look up to.

“I wasn’t a disciplined kid so boxing taught me a lot. My attitude was bad so boxing taught me to keep calm no matter what. When you look at what I’ve achieved, that’s the example I want to show the kids where I am from.

“My kids are my motivation – I want to give them the life that I didn’t have growing up, give them everything they want and be there for them.

“I am my biggest opponent. Sometimes you can think ‘I’m a World champion, I don’t need to train.’ I know that can backfire on me in the gym so I am working harder than ever because i want to stay a champion and achieve more in the future.

“It’s an open division, and one I think I can take over. There’s a lot of good fighters in there making a name for themselves and a lot coming up.

“And we’re not stopping there. We’re moving closer to finalizing three more fight nights in this time frame that will perfectly illustrate the value of being a DAZN subscriber. It’s an exciting time for boxing and we’re proud to be at the very heart of it.”

Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Boxing Managing Director –  “We have massive show on Saturday on Turning Stone, double world championship header, two very important fights on the card. We have had a great few days, week traveling around with Daniel Jacobs coming up on DAZN on May 4. The schedule that’s up over there, and going up on social as well is unquestionably the best schedule in boxing right now on DAZN.”