'I'm Just A Normal Guy From Dallas': Boxer Maurice Hooker On Career & Terence Crawford

(CBS Local)-- Maurice Hooker didn't start boxing until he was 13 or 14 years old and since that time he's become one of the most dominant American boxers.

The Dallas native is coming off his first career loss in July where he lost the WBO welterweight title. The 26-1 Hooker now has a new training team around him and will be jumping back in the ring on December 20 in Phoenix. The man known as Mighty Mo has come a long ways since his days on the streets of Oak Cliff.

"I was fighting a lot in the streets and hanging around with the wrong crowd," said Hooker in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "My dad took me to the gym to get beat up because I was beating up everyone on the streets. I went to the gym and I actually hurt a couple people the first day. I fell in love with it. I had braces when I started and my lips would get cut up and I couldn't eat any McDonald's fries. I felt like a bad boy."

Hooker saw a lot of crazy things in his life during his childhood in Oak Cliff. The boxer said everything changed for him once he had kids of his own.

"When I had my first son, I wanted it to be different," said Hooker. "I had to change my life around because I didn't want my son to be brought up the way I was brought up. I wanted to give him a better life and stuff that I didn't have when I grew up. I'm trying to change my life around for the better. I'm trying to hang around positive people instead of negative people. People who didn't hang up around the hood wouldn't understand it. I'm just a normal guy from Dallas."

Mighty Mo says he always admired Roy Jones Jr. when he was growing up as a boxer and got to meet him in Dallas years ago. While Hooker gets ready for his next fight, he will be supporting his friend Terence Crawford this weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York. The two fighters go way back.

"I've known him for a while and met when he fought in Dallas,' said Hooker. "I met him and I sparred with him the week of his fight. We were in the ring and we were talking noise to each other. We just clicked and we are a big family. I feel like he is one of the best in the world."