NABF champ Lundy, promoter Burchfield answer challenge from outspoken Williams
Tired of being earmarked by the contenders in the 135-pound division, reigning North American Boxing Federation (NABF) lightweight champion “Hammerin’” Hank Lundy has a direct response to the challengers questioning his credentials, specifically No. 2-ranked Dannie Williams, who threatened Tuesday to “hurt” Lundy if the two should face one another in 2012.
“Everyone knows ‘Hammerin’’ Hank will fight anyone, anywhere at anytime. This has to stop,” Lundy said. “I’ve proven myself time and time again on the road. Now y’all have to come to me. I went out to Chicago and knocked out the former world champ [David Diaz on Aug. 9]. What more do I have to do to get respect? So, if y’all aren’t coming to Philadelphia, Rhode Island, or Connecticut to fight ‘Hammerin’’ Hank, then we don’t have a fight. I’m tired of going into people’s backyards. It is what it is.”
Lundy (20-1-1, 11 KOs) – a Philadelphia native now ranked No. 4 in the world among lightweights in the World Boxing Council (WBC) – hasn’t fought in his hometown since 2009, yet has won five of his last six bouts during a stretch that includes trips to Chicago, Memphis, Boston, Rhode Island, Montreal and Connecticut. The combined record of his opponents during that same stretch is a remarkable 120-9-3. Among the victims are Diaz, the former WBC world lightweight champion; Richard Abril, the reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) world lightweight champion; and former two-time Venezuelan Olympian Patrick Lopez, whom Lundy beat for the then-vacant NABF title in April in front of a worldwide audience on ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights” – the fourth of Lundy’s five consecutive nationally-televised bouts since 2010.
Classic Entertainment & Sports president Jimmy Burchfield – Lundy’s promoter – is weighing several options, including the reigning WBC Continental Americas champion Williams (20-1, 16 KOs), as Lundy aims toward a title defense in March.
“Dannie Williams can talk the talk, but has he walked the walk? Who has he fought?” Burchfield said. “Look at the records. The last time Dannie Williams stepped into the ring, he fought an opponent with 10 losses [John Willoughby on Nov. 18]. Hank Lundy’s last six opponents don’t even have 10 losses combined.
“Stop kidding yourself,” he continued. “You had your shot at a legitimate title and lost [to Eloy Perez for the WBC U.S. National Boxing Council super featherweight title in 2009]. You came back two years later to win the WBC Continental Americas lightweight title against an untested opponent [Manuel Leyva] in your own backyard. You’re not a road warrior like Hank Lundy, nor have you faced the caliber of opponents Lundy has faced throughout his career. That’s why you’re 11th [in the WBC] and Hank is No. 4.
“Talk is cheap; right now, Hank is the most targeted fighter in the lightweight division. He’s the fighter television networks want. There are several options out there for a title defense, and you’re at the bottom of the totem pole.”
Lundy is also ranked No. 7 in the World Boxing Organization (WBO), 11th in the International Boxing Federation (IBF), and No. 2 in the North American Boxing Organization (NABO), whose title he held briefly before losing to John Molina Jr. in 2010. Since then, Lundy has won three consecutive bouts.
