By Lem Satterfield
IBF/IBO/WBA junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd’s goals include beating WBC counterpart Jeremell Charlo along with his 160-pound champion twin brother as well as two-division champion Canelo Alvarez and former title winner Gennady Golovkin.
“I’m definitely going 4-0 against all of them,” said Hurd, who has also expressed interest in a 154- or 160-pound bout against left-handed IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence (24-0, 21 KOs).”
“I’m not losing, no matter what. I just have the will to win, to dig it out in the end and to pull it off. That’s how I break these fights down by my ability to break them, mentally.”
The 28-year-old Hurd (22-0, 15 KOs) will pursue his third defense and eighth knockout in nine fights against England’s Jason Welborn (24-6, 7 KOs) on the December 1 undercard of Deontay Wilder’s heavyweight title defense against lineal champion Tyson Fury at The Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The 28-year-old Charlos will be in action on December 22 at Barclays Center in New York. Jermell (31-0, 15 KOs) is after his fourth defense of the WBC junior middleweight crown against repeat title challenger Tony Harrison (27-2, 21 KOs), and Jermall (27-0, 21 KOs), his initial WBC interim title defense and fourth straight stoppage victory against southpaw two-time title challenger Willie Monroe (23-3, 6 KOs).
“Jermell is not better than Jermall for my style. Overall Jermall’s physically stronger than Jermell in terms of size and power. I feel like Jermell Charlo would be an easier fight for me,” said Hurd.
“When I beat Jermell Charlo, I’m moving up to 160, and guess who I’m coming for? Jermall Charlo. So you know that’s a fight possibly in the future.”
The 36-year-old Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) is 1-1-1 in his past three fights, including a disputed unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) in a title unification match that ended “GGG’s” 23-fight, nine-year stoppage streak in March 2017.
Golovkin has lost his IBO, WBC and “super” WBA 160-pound titles by split-decision to Alvarez (50-1-1, 34 KOs) in a September a rematch of their draw from September 2017.
Alvarez has signed a $365 million multi-fight deal with the streaming service DAZN and will pursue a third crown in as many divisions on December 15 against 168-pound Rocky Fielding while retaining his middleweight championships.
In his past three fights, Hurd won the vacant crown by ninth-round TKO in February 2017, defended it by 10th-round TKO over left-handed former title-holder Austin Trout in October 2017, and scored a 12th-round knockdown during a split-decision over Erislandy Lara in April, adding the Cuban southpaw’s WBA title to his IBF version.
Trout was stopped for the first time in his career, having previously lost title-bout decisions to Lara (December 2013), Alvarez (April 2013) and Jermall Charlo (May 2016). In June, Trout lost by two-knockdown majority decision to Jermell, the last fight for both men.
“Wins over both Charlos would put me in position for a great match with Canelo,” said Hurd of Alvarez, whose unanimous and split-decision over Trout and Lara (July 2014) were debatable.
“Canelo was once at 154, also, so size wouldn’t be a factor. Even though I know he’s going up to 168 to fight Fielding, I feel like I would be the bigger fighter against Canelo that night.”
Hurd also likes his chances against Golovkin, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist from Kazakhstan.
“I personally think that a fight with Triple-G would be tougher for my style than Canelo. I don’t think Canelo is a bigger fighter than I am. But with Triple-G, I don’t think it will be as easy enforcing my will on him,” said Hurd.
“I feel like I can do that easier with Canelo than with Triple G, who is more physical, but I still see myself winning. I haven’t had too many people calling me out after the Lara fight, and that’s crazy. Before the Lara fight I had a lot of people calling me out. I’m starting to get the respect that I deserve.”
