At age 37, heavyweight contender and former cruiserweight world title challenger Michael Hunter hasn’t got time on his side, this something Hunter readily acknowledges. Having recently seen two fights fall apart – one with Jarrell Miller, the other with Kubrat Pulev – Hunter is now eyeing a possible fight with “boogeyman” Agit Kabayel.
As Hunter said when speaking with Chris Mannix a short time ago, a fight with the unbeaten German with the wicked body attack is one he would very much like to take. But there could be a problem. In fact there almost certainly will be a problem – in the still-formidable form of promoter Don King.
Don King’s Block on Hunter’s Options
It was King who saw to it that Hunter, with whom the shock-haired one maintains he still has a valid contract, didn’t go ahead and fight Miller. King, now aged 94, wants Hunter to fight the aforementioned Pulev, in a fight that would contest the version of the WBA heavyweight belt Pulev currently holds (King even put out a date in October, and a venue in Miami for this fight).
So, as much as Hunter wants to get on with his career – and a fight between him and Kabayel would certainly prove interesting, depending on how much Hunter has left at age 37 and after so much time spent out of the ring – it may be that King will take legal action if he tries to make any fight other than the Pulev fight.
Hunter Wants Kabayel… and Maybe Usyk
Hunter says the Kabayel fight is the one he’d take next.
“I think Agit Kabayel would be a good fight,” Hunter told Mannix. “I think that’s a very good fight. He’s on that boogeyman side. Those are the guys I like to fight.”
Above all, Hunter hopes, perhaps hopelessly, for a rematch with unified four-belt heavyweight ruler Oleksandr Usyk, who Hunter gave a good account of himself in a cruiserweight title fight that took place seemingly an age ago now. Hunter last saw action in December, when he stopped a little-known foe in Christian Garcia, this in Mexico. “The Bounty Hunter” is 12-0-2(9) as a heavyweight and he holds a good stoppage win over Martin Bakole. But that too was a long time ago, and Hunter really does need to get moving as far as his career goes.
The question is: will Don King let him do so?
