Hurd: To Get This Opportunity To Bring It Back Home Is Special

By Jake Donovan

Through his first 13 fights, Jarrett Hurd never fought more than 30 miles away from his Accokeek, Md. hometown. As he began the ascension from boxing rookie to rising prospect, his team knew it was team for the unbeaten super welterweight to spread his wings beyond the D/M/V (Washington D.C./Maryland/Virginia) area.

Ten fights and a title reign later, it was decided that now is the time to bring it back home.

Hurd will return to the greater Washington D.C. area for the first time in 4½ years, as he defends his slew of 154-pound titles versus Philadelphia’s Julian Williams. Their unified title fight headlines the latest edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Fox, airing live this Saturday evening from EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va., barely 40 minutes from home.

“I defended my title two times out of the area. I always wanted to bring the strap to my hometown and defend it there,” Hurd (23-0, 16KO) said of the desire to bring a title fight to his adoring local fans. “So that's when I wanted to come back home.”

It’s been a longtime coming for the charismatic 28-year old, who recently celebrated his two-year anniversary as a super welterweight titlist. Hurd’s reign began in grand fashion, rallying to score a 9th round knockout of Tony Harrison in their Feb. ’17 vacant title fight, which also aired live on Fox.

In fact, each of Hurd’s last seven contests have garnered televised coverage, dating back to his nationwide TV debut in a Nov. ’15 Showtime-aired 5th round knockout of Frank Galarza.

“Coming up, I was just only known in my area so I wanted to fight in other states and places to pick up a fan base, a bigger fan base worldwide,” Hurd noted of the decision to expand his brand beyond the DMV.

As popular as the sport has always been in his home region, the sport’s popularity has blown up around the way in recent years. A steady stream of major shows are making its way to the greater D.C. area, though to date none bigger than what’s coming on May 11.

“I just wanted to defend it in my hometown,” said Hurd, not nitpicking over having to cross state lines for his billed homecoming. “So to be able to get this opportunity to bring it back here is special. Now we're able to get things down with the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax.

“Virginia is good enough so I'm just happy that people that couldn't make it out to the fight that were in other states can make it to this. This is the perfect time to come home. In bringing the fight home, I'm getting so much love from my city alone. I'm an ambassador for the Redskins. A lot of the sports teams bring me up to sponsor things like that.”

The fight will mark the fourth defense of at least one title for Hurd, including impressive wins over Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara. The latter bout took place last April, with Hurd scoring a 12th round knockdown to take a decision in a thriller which was hailed as the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) 2018 Fight of the Year.

Surgery kept him out of the ring for most of the rest of 2018, returning last December in a rust-shaking 3rd round knockout of England’s Jason Welborn on the Showtime Pay-Per-View undercard of heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder’s 12-round draw. Also on the show, Julian Williams won his fourth straight preserve his second career title fight after having suffered a 5th round knockout loss to Jermall Charlo in their competitive Dec. ’16 affair.

The pairing was unofficially confirmed going into the night, with the simple matter of finding the when and the where. Once a date was set aside by Fox Sports, bestowing the defending titlist with a homecoming seemed the only way to go for this event.

“I'm trying to get the recognition that I work hard for. It couldn't be on a better place than on FOX to showcase my fight here,” Hurd admits. “This is perfect timing.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox