Jarrett Hurd unified the 154-pound division with a 12-round split-decision victory over Erislandy Lara in an all-action fight Saturday on SHOWTIME before a sold-out crowd of 2,579 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Hurd (22-0, 15 KOs), who entered as IBF Champion, dethroned WBA, IBO Champion in just the seventh unification in division history. The difference in the Fight of the Year candidate was a short left hook that floored Lara in the final minute of the fight. Had the 27-year-old Hurd not scored the knockdown, the fight would have been ruled a majority draw.
Hurd applied relentless pressure from the opening round, pressing forward against the crafty southpaw. He pounded the body, yet often neglected defense and ate punishing counter shots for 11 rounds.
But the difference for Lara (25-3-2, 14 KOs), who was making the seventh defense of his title, was the brutal 12th round. With blood seeping from a swollen right eye, Hurd connected on a short left hook that floored Lara for the first time in nearly five years.
“Besides the last round, I thought I was winning this fight easily,” Lara said. “That’s not to decide the fight. I was winning the fight. One punch in a fight doesn’t determine the fight.
"It was a great fight for the fans. I stood there, fought and it was fun. I thought I clearly won the fight. Once again a decision goes against me, but h?ey we just have to do the rematch."
James DeGale earned back the IBF Super Middleweight World Championship with a unanimous decision in a rematch with Caleb Truax, taking back the title he lost last December in the near-universal upset of the year.
The 12-round championship affair was scored 117-110 and 114-113 twice. DeGale, who was deducted a point in the 10th for pushing, won the championship rounds – 11 and 12 – on all three judges’ scorecards to win the decision.
