Hank Lundy: “I’d beat Broner and Garcia”
By: Ben Sutherland
It’s February 27th, 2016. It’s the 5th round at Madison Square Garden. After some early success in the fight, Hank Lundy is up against the ropes as Terrence Crawford tees off. The referee decides he has seen enough and jumps in. The fight is over.
“That fight was stopped too early” says an incensed Hank Lundy, “I was still throwing back. They knew how dangerous I was and the ref stopped it as soon as he could”. Speaking a year and a half on from that fight, the loss clearly still cuts deep for the man from Philadelphia. His mean competitive streak burns at him for another shot at a world title.
Following the Crawford fight, Lundy has had a couple of comeback fights. He made relatively light work of both John Delperdang and Daniel Evangelista Jr to take two comfortable wins. But now he is back and ready for another shot at the big time, “Hammerin Hank is back and better than ever” he says.
It was in an encounter with the high school bully that left the bully asleep on the ground, that Hank first realized that he could fight. His uncle also quickly realized the potential that a young Lundy harbored and immediately got him into the boxing gym. Lundy sacrificed a partial college football scholarship so his family could afford to send his sister to college. “I told them I’d find another way” says Lundy, and boxing proved to be exactly that.
He had a promising amateur career, finishing runner up at the 2005 national Golden Gloves and then another runner up spot at the Pan-Am championships. In 2006, Lundy turned pro signing with Jimmy Burchfield and Classic Entertainment sports. Fighting primarily out of New England, Lundy stormed through his early fights which allowed him to carve out a strong reputation. His brave and aggressive fighting style made him exciting to watch and it wasn’t long before the big time came calling.
Lundy’s first big test came against the feared Viktor Postol. “When my promoter comes to me and asks if I want a hard fight or an easier option, I take the hard one every time” says Lundy. Lundy flew over to Postol’s native country of Ukraine and took him all 12 rounds, losing a decision on enemy turf. This set him up for his world title shot against Terrence Crawford. A loss that hit him hard, but by no means broke the man from South Philly for who sadly, adversity is nothing new.
His thoughts now turn to another world title shot. True to his fearless nature, Lundy doesn’t care who he fights, he just wants a world title. Lundy has a keen eye on the upcoming clash between Adrien Broner and Mikey Garcia. Lundy was called in to spar by both camps but he refused, “they just want to get a better look at me” he says, “They know I’d beat both of them, everyone is running scared of me”.
Hammerin Hank Lundy did it the hard way, rising from the streets of South Philly to the top flight of boxing. Nobody ever gave him anything, he had to go out and get it, and that’s why he is so dangerous in the ring. Lundy is back fighting at 135lb and he is better than ever. If not Garcia or Broner then he wants either Terry Flanagan or Robert Easter Jr. He says he will beat all of them but the boxing public will just have to wait and see.
