Tony Harrison must not enjoy the fact that history has a tendency to repeat itself.
The contender, who in 2015 found himself knocked out by Willie Nelson after having almost swept his opponent on rounds going into the last few, must have felt a serious case of deja vu as he was knocked out by Jarrett Hurd in the ninth round of their Junior Middleweight IBF title bout.
Harrison controlled the first seven rounds of the contest easily. Hurd spent most of those rounds chasing down Harrison rather than trying to cut off the ring.
Over the course of the first half of the fight, Harrison quite simply outclassed Hurd via a swift jab and gorgeous foot movement.
Much like in Harrison’s fight against Nelson, however, Harrison appeared to get complacent as the fight wore on, eventually eating a number of right uppercuts from Hurd, who took these huge landing shots as confidence boosters that gave him significant momentum as the championship rounds drew nearer.
Those rounds never had to come into play though as Hurd’s rising confidence lifted him up enough through the early struggles to land a beautiful right hand on Harrison’s chin which dropped the Detroit-native hard, with his head slamming the canvas on the way down.
“We wanted to take our time with him because Harrison can box and move. But every time he fights he wears down toward the end,” said Hurd after the bout.
Harrison managed to rise at the count of nine, telling the referee that he was able to continue. Hurd, in the neutral corner, was chomping at the bit ready to pounce on a severely damaged opponent, but Harrison raised the white flag himself, spitting out his mouthpiece.
The official saw right through this ruse to buy more time and waved the bout off seeing that Harrison clearly didn’t want to or have the ability to continue.
Hurd, realizing that he was now a world title holder at Junior Middleweight, threw himself on the canvas in celebration. Harrison didn’t fight the stoppage, accepting that he didn’t have the gas tank to take him the distance.
“It feels great to be a champion. I’ve never had a feeling this great before. It’s pure Accokeek power. I can finally pull my pants up now. My pants were falling down, but I finally got my belt,” said Hurd.
Hurd is now a title holder in a 154-division stacked to the brim with talent.
Jarrett Hurd drops and stops Tony Harrison in Round 9. #AndTheNew #Boxing #PBConFox pic.twitter.com/hfDv0d10EZ
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) February 26, 2017
All photos by Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions
