This guy's career peaked in a draw against Povetkin and then went downhill. How come he went so inactive after that and fought only lower and lower opposition? I thought he was in line for the next generation of heavyweights but instead he stopped pushing forward his career and nobody talks about him anymore... He coud've easily been put together with Hrgovic, Sanchez, Kabayel, Whyte and maybe even Parker for some interesting fights if he kept hustling. People would've watched it. His recent years are really sad and poor careerwise.
He arguably edged 40+ Povetkin but got a draw, didn't get the Whyte "eliminator" as a result in a Matchroom duck, and he mentally checked out after that. He'd already lost wide to Usyk. He ducked Hrgovic and languished in obscurity. Hughie also pulled out twice on him, which would have further reduced his motivation. At some point in his early 30's he realised his prospects to become a titlist were nil, so he chased easy paydays against journeymen like Jerry Forrest, went life and death, got a gift etc.
Pretty sure he left matchroom promotions in 2020 to be a free agent and didnt really have any major promoting company backing him. Looks like he was frozen out a bit because of it.
The decision to go free agent was bad enough. It was time for Michael to make a recovery decision. That recovery decision can never be Don King tho.
Sure, he lost wide to Usyk, but it was Usyk’s second hardest fight in the cruiserweight division, and given how good Usyk was, his run at cruiserweight is probably the most impressive thing he’s done. Also, Forrest isn’t a journeyman, he’s definitely a gatekeeper. But I agree with everything else.
I really like Hunter and until recently was cheering for his comeback, but I can't help but to realize that his downfall came after a quiet PEDs accusation from the WBC. That's when he disappeared. Make of it what you will.
Honestly he probably should've stayed at Cruiser in terms of being champ but I understand that he wanted to make the money and for a bigger guy the division for that is Heavy.
He didn't link up with a good promoter after leaving match room. He was supposed to fight on a Saudi card but I think Don King out a stop to that as he had a contract with Hunter (who in their right mind signs with Don King in the 2020s)
He was definitely 'frozen out'. A headache nobody needed. He's a guy, who I think, really missed an opportunity at heavyweight.
This is the single hardest time in history for top HWs to find fights. In a division full of aging contenders who've never had a crack at the champ what chance does the guy who lost to him have? Hunters best chance was Bakole becoming the "next George Foreman" and becoming a champ. Then he'd be the only guy to beat a champ. This looked likely to happen the last time Hunter fought but it went sideways and now hes kinda screwed. Bakole could become a champion yet but Hunters 3 years older and unlikely to benefit from that.
Hes still training. Was supposed to fight big baby at the fontaine bleu in the warmup to canelo crawford but it got cancelled because big baby couldn't get sanctioned in vegas because of ped ban. To bad cuz that was an easy fight for mike.
Hunter was my favorite CW/HW of this era. All the potential in the world to be a consistent top 5 HW (he wasn't gonna be champ, Usyk was in the way) but could've been a real number 2-5 guy. Bad choices basically, also his issues with Don King Promotions barring him from fighting and threatening legal action. That combined with inactivity during his prime pretty much has sealed his fate.