Jarrett Hurd can fight. Fighters like him are rare. Not rare in the sense of their style, but rare in the sense that they achieve high levels of success with their styles.
Think about the top 10 guys in all the divisions. How many of them have trouble throwing straight punches? Not many. Hurd’s technique is similar to the raw technique of Wilder. Hurd even agreed to as much. He imitated the wild style of Wilder in an Instagram post about year ago. Arms flailing, feet wide, Hurd posted the video of him imitating Wilder with the caption:
“Big Big fan of him. We both have that awkward style that you can’t teach…One of the most exciting fighters in boxing today and one of my favorite fighters! Guess this elite champion???? #SwiftNation #JustJokes #Boxing”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbN1hTHHaCr/
Hurd’s right about the exciting part. He’s never been in a boring fight, and I don’t think we’ll ever see him in one. Hurd came “outta nowhere” so to speak. He had been quietly and diligently raising his profile while racking up wins for his home state of Maryland. He went 32-8 as an amateur and won the Washington D.C. Golden Gloves a few times, but was still relatively unknown. This would begin to change after defeating then undefeated prospect Frank Galarza. After being bumped up the main event after Gary Russell suffered an injury, Hurd would take full advantage of the eyes on him, pounding Galarza until the referee stopped in to end it via TKO in the 6th round; Galarza had no complaints.
Three fights later Hurd would get his shot at a world title; Tony Harrison would get that same shot. The fight would show what has become a Hurd trademark; weather the early rounds then beat the hell out of your opponent in the later rounds. After stopping Harrison in the 9th, Hurd decided to take on the durable, well-schooled veteran Austin Trout. Trout got off to as good of a start as he could have, constantly tagging Hurd and avoiding return fire for the most part. Yet again, Hurd would re-energize in the second half of the fight, battering Trout and forcing a corner stoppage. A very impressive victory by and standards. To put into perspective, Trout had fought both Canelo Alvarez and Erislandy Lara and neither were able to stop him.
Speaking of Erislandy Lara, this is who Hurd would now set his sights on. Although Hurd had shown he was a talented fighter, the Cuban seemed to be a bridge too far for the 27-year-old. This was not the case at all. Lara started the fight uncharacteristically fast, perhaps wanting to let the young fighter know he was on a different level. And to honest, this was exactly how it appeared early on. Lara was moving well and firing off his customary 1-2s with Hurd trying to figure him out. Hurd was not fazed. At all. He would then employ a damaging, consistent body attack that would have Lara fighting exclusively inside for the last 4 rounds, something he never does. A 12th round knockdown by Hurd would prove to be the difference. Again, Hurd would rise to the occasion and not be overwhelmed by the big stage.
If someone ever asks you Who the f*** Jarrett Hurd is, tell them Jarrett Hurd can fight.
