Former sparring partners Alex Saucedo, Maurice Hooker ready for WBO world title bout

As far as boxing news conferences go, this was a royal tea party with Maurice Hooker and Alex Saucedo all prim and proper, showing nary a sign of disrespect.

There were no staged confrontations or outlandish comments Wednesday inside the ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel just one block away from Chesapeake Energy Arena, where Hooker will defend his World Boxing Organization light heavyweight title against Saucedo on Friday night.

After all, the champ and challenger were sparring partners not that long ago.

"In the boxing world," Saucedo said, "that's how it is."

As Saucedo began his professional career in 2011, he left his Oklahoma City home to train in Dallas at Maple Avenue Boxing Gym, where he often worked out with Hooker.

"Good sparring session. Tough guy," Saucedo recalled. "He's a guy with a long reach and power in both of his hands."

On Tuesday, Hooker posted photos on Instagram from those sparring sessions with a message that this bout has "been a long time coming."

"We both got better," Hooker said. "He got better. I got better. I just got a little more better than him."

He'll need to be Friday night as he makes his first title defense on Saucedo's home turf, three hours away from Hooker's native Dallas.

"I'll fight anywhere — outside, in front of your house, behind your house, in the ring..." said Hooker, who owns a 24-0-3 record with 16 knockouts. "I don't care where I fight as long as I fight."

Saucedo, undefeated at 28-0 with 18 knockouts, is just happy to have his first title shot in Oklahoma City. If the crowd is anything like the one that saw Saucedo win a bloody bout against Lenny Zappavigna on June 30 at Chesapeake Energy Arena, he'll take it.

"It's motivation for me, seeing the whole city come together," Saucedo said. "The way they were shouting 'O-K-C' in the arena was like when you go to a Thunder game. It was an amazing feeling."