Photo by Esther Lin/Showtime
Jarrett Hurd has been making noise as he rises through the ranks of one of boxing’s most talented divisions.
Before facing off against Oscar Molina, he’d cut through two undefeated prospects like a scorching knife through a tub of Country Crock, and Molina proved to be not much different.
While both fighters came out a bit hesitant at first, Hurd used a variety of feints and jabs to lure Molina in. When Molina bit on a well-placed feint near the end of the first, Hurd slammed his prey with a sharp right uppercut, flooring him, but not hurting the Californian as much as he probably would have liked to.
“It was a big uppercut that knocked him down in round one,” Hurd noted, remarking that it would take more than just that punch to take Molina out.
“We had to break him down first.”
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
Molina fought back hard, landing some good shots on Hurd throughout the fight, but Hurd was just too aggressive, too accurate and too naturally talented for Molina.
Hurd faced new challenges, however. For the first time he went past the seventh round, and dealt with an iron-chinned fighter without an ounce of quit in him.
The referee stopped the bout in the final round to some ringside observers’ ire, but Hurd was leading wide—87-83, 88-82, and 90-80—at the time of the stoppage.
Going forward, Hurd has no issues being in such a stacked division with fighters like the Charlo brothers–Jermell and Jermall–Demetrius Andrade and Erislandy Lara at his potential disposal.
“This fight here puts me up with the top contenders in the division,” said Hurd. “I felt like I could have gone three or four more rounds.”
Who would you like to see Jarrett Hurd face next?
