Saturday night at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, IBF champion Jarrett Hurd edged WBA champion Erislandy Lara to unify the super welterweight titles?
Saturday night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a fight televised live on Showtime Championship Boxing, IBF super welterweight champion Jarrett Hurd (21-0, 15 KOs), the young powerhouse from Accokeek, Maryland, edged WBA super welterweight champion Erislandy Lara (25-2-2, 14 KOs), the wily southpaw from Miami, Florida, by way of Guantanamo, Cuba, to win a split decision after 12 rounds.
All three judges scored the fight 114-113. Two judges had it for Hurd. One judge gave it to Lara.
The dust hasn?t settled and the year is still young, but Saturday?s fight might be a candidate for fight of the year. The bout was competitive. There were no fouls. No officials marred the proceedings. And there was plenty of action?from both fighters.
Fighting out of the red corner in black trunks with orange trim, Hurd seemed to tower over his opponent. He was not only bigger, younger, and stronger than the man opposite him. Hurd was relentless. However unrefined his skills and porous his defense, on this night he would not be denied.
Lara, fighting out of the blue corner in white trunks trimmed in red and blue, ate more than his share of thudding punches. But acting as marksman to Hurd?s battalion, he counterpunched his way to a narrow lead on all three scorecards going into the final round.
With just 15 seconds left in the fight, Hurd landed a hybrid right hook/uppercut, followed by a hard left hook that dropped Lara to the canvas. He beat the count and was fighting back when the bell to end the round and fight sounded.
It was a dramatic end to a dramatic fight.
Hurd connected more frequently but at a lower percentile. According to CompuBox he landed 217 of 824 (26%) total punches to Lara?s 176 of 572 (31%). With Lara fading as the fight drew to a close, with his right eye swollen and soon to be useless, Hurd landed 106 punches to Lara?s 71 in the last four rounds.
Much like Wladimir Klitschko in his fight with Anthony Joshua, in losing as he did Lara won. He didn?t fight as he usually fights. He fought as he was forced to fight and looked good doing it.
?It was a great fight for the fans,? Lara said. ?I stood and fought a lot and it was fun. I thought I clearly won the fight. Once again a decision goes against me.?
Hurd connected more frequently but at a lower percentile. According to CompuBox he landed 217 of 824 (26%) total punches to Lara?s 176 of 572 (31%). With Lara fading as the fight drew to a close, with his right eye swollen and soon to be useless, Hurd landed 106 punches to Lara?s 71 in the last four rounds.
Much like Wladimir Klitschko in his fight with Anthony Joshua, in losing as he did Lara won. He didn?t fight as he usually fights. He fought as he was forced to fight and looked good doing it.
?It was a great fight for the fans,? Lara said. ?I stood and fought a lot and it was fun. I thought I clearly won the fight. Once again a decision goes against me.
?Besides the last round, I thought I was winning this fight easily. The problem was the cut on the eye. I couldn?t see in the last round.?
With Lara vanquished, at least for now, Hurd wants to fight WBC champ Jermell Charlo and the feeling is mutual.
Charlo was ringside at Hard Rock and his words sting as bad as his punches.
?Hurd has to get his defense together because he cannot get hit by me like that by me,? he said. ?Lara doesn?t move like he used to. If he moves like he used to he wins that fight. I?m down. Let?s go. We want that work. I feel Hurd only took the fight with Lara because he realized the harder fight is with Jermell Charlo.?
True that. Those twins are double trouble. Those brothers can fight.
