Hurd: Lara's Older Than Trout; Just Doesn't Want to Give Credit

By Keith Idec

Jarrett Hurd couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

As Erislandy Lara degraded Hurd’s technical-knockout win against Austin Trout during a recent conference call, Hurd wanted to interrupt the WBA/IBO super welterweight champion. Lara downplayed Hurd’s win because Trout is an “older guy” and ended a 17-month layoff the night he entered the ring to fight Hurd.

Trout had just turned 32 when Hurd became the first opponent to beat him by knockout or technical knockout October 14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Lara, Hurd’s opponent Saturday night, will turn 35 on Wednesday.

“That’s the first thing I thought of when he mentioned that,” Hurd told BoxingScene.com. “You’re saying Trout was old, but you’re older than Trout.”

Hurd considers Lara’s assessment of his victory over Trout a transparent attempt to demean what’s widely considered the most impressive win of the unbeaten IBF junior middleweight champion’s five-year pro career (https://www.boxingscene.com/lara-trout-out-17-months-on-back-end-career-versus-hurd--126595).

Trout (31-4, 17 KOs), a former WBA super welterweight champ, lost his previous bout, but was competitive during that 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Jermall Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs) in May 2016. Before Hurd stopped him, Trout’s only losses were 12-round points defeats to Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs), Lara and Charlo.

The 27-year-old Hurd had some trouble figuring out Trout in the early portion of their fight. Eventually, however, the bigger, stronger Hurd wore down Trout and was ahead on all three scorecards – 97-93, 96-94, 96-94 – when Trout declined to leave his corner for the start of the 11th round.

“People try to downplay it, try and play the old card,” Hurd said of his win over Trout. “But I feel like that Trout right there was a great Trout. Age didn’t play a factor. He came right back off my defeat and got a win on his record. I still think he’s got something left in him. People try to play the old card because I went out there and my pressure made him eventually fatigue.

“That’s why people say the age was getting to him, but they’re not trying to give me my credit. But it’s OK. Maybe they’ll say the same thing against Lara. But I’m not worried about all that. I’m just out there to get my victory.”

Lara knocked down Trout, who was 28 when they fought, in the 11th round of their December 2013 meeting at Barclays Center. The Cuban-born, Houston-based southpaw went on to win by big margins on all three scorecards (118-109, 117-110, 117-110).

Lara (25-2-2, 14 KOs) is very slightly favored over Hurd (21-0, 15 KOs) in their 12-round, 154-pound title unification fight at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The Lara-Hurd bout is the main event of Showtime’s tripleheader, which will begin at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

Showtime’s three-bout broadcast will open with Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (24-1-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC) and Nathaniel Gallimore (20-1-1, 17 KOs), of Evanston, Illinois, in a 12-round IBF junior middleweight elimination match. Before Lara and Hurd go at it, IBF super middleweight champ Caleb Truax (29-3-2, 18 KOs), of Osseo, Minnesota, will make his first title defense against England’s James DeGale (23-2-1, 14 KOs) in an immediate rematch.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.