The Setup:
With fellow Philly fighter Bernard Hopkins in attendance at Philly's 2300 Arena, looking to be fresh off the set of a new Dos Equis commercial where he is The Most Interesting Man in the World 2.0, the 20-3 Featherweight/Super Featherweight prospect Eric Hunter matches the slow and steady Nicaraguan Super Featherweight Rene Alvarado, 21-3, with no losses by stoppage. Hunter's three losses are perhaps rather surprisingly comprised of one early split-decision in 2007 and two disqualifications, coming in 2010 and 2013. None of these losses are to fighters of much name, but he did beat then-unbeaten Jerry Belmontes, notably. Alvarado takes one of his losses by popular perennial contender Rocky Juarez. They meet at Featherweight. This is a co-main event, together with Michael Perez VS Miguel Acosta preceding it. It's a good, solid card from FS1. Cheers to them for that.
The Action:
When you get a young fighter on the rise like this with Eric Hunter's style, there's always a danger that they lose focus, get too comfortable, get lazy, and open the door for someone much less talented to get into the fight, gain confidence and start to pickup momentum. Eric Hunter did what you hope any fighter with that style can do and he showed the kind of focus a champion would. While he never displayed the type of power he would seem to need to put Alvarado away, he shut him down, never opened a door for him to barge in and never even seemed to give him one moment that would've given hope he could turn the tide.
Hunter was way-too-good for him. Alvarado was shown at every turn that he was out of his depth. He tried, he didn't back down, he was a fighter, but the difference in class was immense. The records on paper, their numbers, they show similar levels, but when you see them together in the ring, it's like watching Picasso and your 4-year-old son trying to paint the same picture. That's not to try and oversell you on Hunter, but that really did appear to be the gap in talent. Check hooks, counter straight right hands off of the shoulder roll, switch-hitting, he put on a clinic tonight. His defense was incredibly sharp.
For fighters yet to get a major world title attached to their name, I don't know as there are any you will see with more polished or consistent defense than what Hunter showed tonight. The true show of class for Hunter's style was when Alvarado took his chances, he paid for it far more than Hunter did. Eric "The Outlaw" Hunter dominant UD10 Rene Alvarado, who took home a pretty decent cut above the right eye, for whatever other troubles he had in his damage report. I didn't give Alvarado a round and I didn't see any that would fairly go to him either.
What it means to me:
Frankly, I have little idea of Mr. Hunter's previous troubles, his disqualifications, but I would like to see him back on the air and putting on these performances. As far as I'm concerned, he was the performer of the night. This was an old school pleasure. I have to say I consider him someone to be taken seriously in either the Featherweight or Super Featherweight division. Jhonny Gonzalez has a lot of names to choose from, but Hunter would certainly be a match to respect if it happens. For Alvarado, you can't say much. He gave it a good shot and he didn't look to belong at this level. No shame but no sugarcoating.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
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