Hurd: My Power is Deceiving; Lara Won't Trade Once He Feels It

By Keith Idec

Jarrett Hurd expects Erislandy Lara to approach him exactly how Lara usually fights.

Hurd doesn’t believe the technically sound southpaw will do anything different, despite Lara’s promise to punish Hurd due to the defensive deficiencies an aggressive Hurd showed in his most recent victories over Tony Harrison and Austin Trout.

The unbeaten IBF junior middleweight champion also feels he’ll surprise Lara with his power when they meet in a 12-round, 154-pound title unification fight Saturday night in Las Vegas (Showtime).

“He says he’s gonna break my face, like Angulo,” Hurd told BoxingScene.com, alluding to Lara’s 10th-round stoppage of Alfredo Angulo in June 2013. “But, you know, those are all things that you have to see once you get in the ring. Once Lara feels my power, he’s never gonna stand there, toe-to-toe, with me.

“My power is very deceiving. It doesn’t look as hard from outside the ring. It looks like I’m pushing my punches, but there’s a lot of body weight behind it. It’s almost like I’m playing the fight out in my head. I just can’t wait for you guys to see it, because the outcome is gonna be crazy, man.”

The 6-foot-1 Hurd, of Accokeek, Maryland, owns a four-inch height advantage over Cuba’s Lara and figures to out-weigh the IBO/WBA champ once their fight starts.

In his last fight, Hurd became the first fighter to defeat Trout by knockout or technical knockout. The 27-year-old Hurd had some difficulty dealing with Trout (31-4, 17 KOs), another smaller southpaw, at points in their bout, but eventually wore down Trout until the former WBA super welterweight champion declined to come out of his corner for the start of the 11th round October 14 in Brooklyn.

In his previous bout, Hurd stopped Detroit’s Harrison (26-2, 21 KOs) in the ninth round to win the then-vacant IBF championship 13½ months ago in Birmingham, Alabama.

While Hurd is certain he is stronger than Lara, he isn’t underestimating his opponent’s power. Lara dropped Trout in the 11th round of their title fight in December 2013, which the long-reigning champion won by unanimous decision.

“I’ll say out of everybody that I have fought before that Tony Harrison was the hardest puncher,” said Hurd, who has won seven straight fights by technical knockout. “And I feel as though Lara’s power will be equal to that. He has some sneaky punches, and those are the ones that kind of hurt the most. Those are the ones you can’t see, that aren’t telegraphed. So you can’t kind of brace for them. There’s shots that he lands, his straight left. I feel like his power, out of a 1 to 10, is maybe a 7½.”

Showtime will air Lara-Hurd as the main event of a tripleheader set to begin at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

The telecast is slated to begin with a 12-round IBF junior middleweight elimination match between Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (24-1-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC) and Nathaniel Gallimore (20-1-1, 17 KOs), of Evanston, Illinois. After the Williams-Gallimore match, newly crowned IBF super middleweight champ Caleb Truax (29-3-2, 18 KOs), of Osseo, Minnesota, will make the first defense of his title in an immediate rematch against England’s James DeGale (23-2-1, 14 KOs).

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