Michael Hunter (19-1-1, 13 KOs) weighed in on Monday at 217.2 lbs for his 10 round WBA heavyweight title eliminator against Michael Wilson (21-1, 10 KOs) for their main event fight on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott / Triller Fight Club)
The 38-year-old Wilson weighed in at 224.2 lbs. The winner of the fight will be the mandatory challenger to WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Hunter, 33, should win this fight fairly easily, as Wilson has never shown the kind of talent that would suggest that he can beat a guy like him.
This is Hunter’s second fight since battling to a 12 round draw against Alexander Povetkin in December 2019 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
The vacant World Boxing Association Continental Americas heavyweight title will be on the line on Tuesday night for the Hunter vs. Wilson fight.
FITE.TV and Triller.com will be showing the contest live at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT.
“It was good. It was a little more tedious than normal,” said Michael Hunter to Fighthype in preparation for this match. I had to be a little more precautious.
“Normally, I train when everybody else trains, but I had to keep the gym private. Vegas is the second most highest with the COVID symptoms right now.
“Teofimo got it, and Tyson [Fury] got it. That was all Vegas. I’m ready to go,” said Hunter.
In the chief support weights, former 140-lb world champion Chris Algieri (24-3, 9 KOs) weighed in at 142.8 lbs for his 10-round fight against Mikkel LesPierre (22-2-1, 10 KOs). The 36-year-old LesPierre weighed in at 144 pounds.
LesPierre is coming off a lopsided 10 round unanimous decision to Jose Pedraza last year in July 2020. It’ll be interesting to see whether LesPierre has any ring rust from his 13 months of inactivity.
The career of Algieri, 37, has slowed dramatically since suffering a fifth round knockout loss to Errol Spence Jr in 2016. Since that loss, Algieri has fought just three times against lower-level opposition.
His last fight was against British domestic level fighter Tommy Coyle two years ago in June 2019, beating him by an eighth round stoppage.
It’s hard to know what Algieri has left in the tank at his age and with his inactivity. It’s hard to be at your best when you’re only fighting once every two years like Algieri.
If we don’t see Algieri for another two years after Tuesday night’s fight, he might as well pack it in.
Before he became a part-time fighter, Algieri’s best career wins came against Ruslan Provodnikov, Erick Bone, Emanuel Taylor, and Mike Arnaoutis.
Other weights on the card:
- Aaron Aponte, 139.8 vs. Gerardo Gonzalez, 138 — Four Round
- Joe Ward, 175.2 vs. Troy Williams, 175.6 – Six Rounds
- Eric Walker 147 vs. Ivan Golub, 146.2 – Ten Rounds for Vacant IBF – USBA Welterweight Title
- Christina Cruz, 111.2 vs. Indeya Smith, 111.6 – Four Rounds
- Matthew Tinker, 174.2 vs. Michael Rycraft, 173.2 – Four Rounds
- Robert Sabbagh, 220.2 vs. Cleveland Billingsley III, 251.2 – Four Rounds
- Nikoloz Sekhniashvili, 154.2 vs. Guido Schramm, 155 – Six Rounds