Jarrett Hurd did it. By the narrowest of margins thanks in part to a twelfth round knockdown, Jarrett Hurd is now the holder of both the WBA and IBF belts thanks to this win over Erislandy Lara. The Cuban ex-titleholder has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, however, as he was also brilliant in this fight. Hurd and Lara put on a serious fight of the year candidate tonight in Vegas.
Erislandy Lara (25-3-2, 14 KOs) dominated the majority of the first round on lightning quick and accurate left hands. Jarrett Hurd (22-0, 15 KOs) did get inside for the last thirty seconds or so, however, and he carried that positioning into the second round. Lara did most of the best work in the second too, but Jarrett Hurd really did get going in the last thirty seconds of the round. The Cuban transplant continued to hold his ground on the inside in the third. It wasn’t to his benefit though as he allowed Jarrett Hurd to get momentum going and to win the round on my card on volume. The fourth round was virtually the same. Lara was landing beautiful shots in between, but this is very much a Jarrett Hurd fight after four rounds. I had it even.
Lara came out with a concerted effort to break this pattern in the fifth. He boxed quite well at times with excellent outside movement to take the round. I must note how physically hard he needed to work to do this though. I have never seen Erislandy work this hard through five rounds. The sixth round was a little slower, but it was still intense. The Cuban WBA titleholder boxed well again for parts of it, but Jarrett Hurd also got some big shots in late. I scored it for Erislandy and had him up 4-2 at the halfway point.
Unexpectedly it was Jarrett Hurd slowing down in the seventh round. Lara landed almost all the meaningful shots while the IBF titleholder seemed less interested in engaging than normal. Hurd replied with an emphatic eighth round, however, his best of the fight. He didn’t hurt Lara, but he chased and battered him around the ring for three minutes. Second half of the fight freight train Jarrett Hurd appeared to have arrived at the station. Lara fought back a little better in the ninth, but Hurd kept his offense rolling for another big round. The Cuban longtime titleholder’s face was really starting to show the damage here too.
The tenth round was an absolutely brilliant war. Jarrett Hurd dominated its first half and closed it strong in the last fifteen or so seconds, but in between Erislandy Lara rallied in a big way. It started with a sharp left hand counter off a sloppy missed Hurd left hook and the Cuban just fired away. I still scored it for Hurd, but damn was it close. The eleventh was just as fantastic. These two were putting on a junior middleweight classic going into the twelfth and final round. I had Jarrett Hurd up a point going into it, but there were many close rounds along the way.
The twelfth round was an epic finish to one of the best junior middleweight fights I have ever seen. Lara opened it sharp, but Hurd quickly overwhelmed him with his nonstop pressure. At some point Erislandy Lara began bleeding profusely and was in full retreat when Jarrett Hurd caught and dropped him with about twenty second to go. When Lara rose and looked to be finished, he suddenly fired back just long enough to make it to the bell.
I scored the fight 115-112 for Jarrett Hurd. The official cards came back split with the first 114-113 for Lara while the same score then came back for Hurd. The deciding score was also exactly the same, but for the new unified titleholder Jarrett Hurd. The knockdown won him the fight.
This was my favorite fight of 2018. Watch it immediately if you haven’t.
