By Jim Dower: Erislandy Lara (25-2-2, 14 KOs) will be getting a large purse of $1 million in his unification fight this Saturday night on April 7 against IBF World junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd (21-0, 15 KOs) in their fight on Showtime Boxing at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME)
Hurd, 27, will be getting a purse of $500,000. Lara will have his WBA Super World 154 lb. title on the line in this fight.
The 34-year-old Lara weighed in at 153.5 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in. Hurd weighed in at 153 lbs.
The odds-makers have Lara pegged as a slight favorite by the odds -125 favorite over Hurd +100. The bettors are assuming that Lara will box and move for 12 rounds, and use his superior boxing skills to win a decision.
Lara has talked about wanting to knock Hurd out on Saturday, but that’s very unlikely because it’ll require that he stand his ground and fight him in the trenches. Lara isn’t going to do that because it’s not his style.
This fight could be a good one if Lara chooses to fight and not run like he sometimes does when facing better opposition. Lara has only faced three good fighters during his 10-year pro career in Saul Canelo Alvarez, Vanes Martirosyan, Austin Trout and Paul Williams. Lara lost to Canelo and Williams, albeit a controversial defeat.
Hurd is a fighter that could be difficult for Lara with his size, power, length and youth. Lara hasn’t fought a guy like Hurd at any time in his career. Even when Lara fought the 5’9” Canelo, he was fighting a short fighter with limited reach and size. The 6’1” Hurd is four inches taller than Canelo, and a bigger puncher once he started sitting down on his shots. Lara is facing Hurd at the wrong time of his career. It’s going to be hard for him to deal with that power and size right now.
”We know he’s going to use the entire ring, but you can’t run from ‘Swift’ Jarrett Hurd for 12 rounds,” Hurd said about Lara. ”We know we are going to be in his face and know he’ll have to engage at some point,” Hurd said.
The Cuban southpaw Lara has more aggressive lately since he put in a poor performance in running from Saul Canelo Alvarez for 12 rounds in a split decision loss in 2014. Lara has been a lot more aggressive in his last six fights against Terrell Gausha, Yuri Foreman, Vanes Martirosyan, Jan Zaveck, Delvin Rodriguez and Ishe Smith. Those guys didn’t have the power and the size that the 6’1” Hurd possesses, so it’s likely that Lara will revert back to the evasive style of fighting that he used against Canelo. Lara will use mostly pot shots, jabs and uppercuts throughout the fight. Even when Lara is fighting weak opposition like most of the fighters he’s defended his WBA title against in the last four years, he largely throws one punch at a time.
In other purses on the card, IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Truax (29-3-2, 18 KOs) will be getting purse of $300,000 to defend his title against former IBF 168 lb. champion James ‘Chunky’ DeGale (23-2-1, 14 KOs) in a rematch. DeGale, 32, will also be getting a purse of $300,000.
DeGale is the favorite by a -500 margin to Truax’s +333. DeGale lost to Truax by a 12 round majority decision last December in a big upset at the Copper Box Arena in London, England. DeGale hasn’t exactly taken the high road unfortunately in blaming his loss on his surgically repaired right shoulder not being at full strength.
Truax weighed in at 167.75 lbs. for his first defense of his IBF super middleweight title. The 32-year-old DeGale weighed in at 167.25 lbs.
”The boxing people know that I’m above Truax,” DeGale said in response to him being favored to beat Truax on Saturday. ”I believe I’m so much better than him and on Saturday night I have a chance to get back my title and show the world that I’m back. My career is in the balance right now. If I lose, where do I go?” DeGale said.
Junior middleweight contender Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams (24-1-1, 15 KOs) will be collecting a purse of $40,000 for his IBF junior middleweight title eliminator against Nathaniel Gallimore (20-1-1, 17 KOs). Gallimore, 29, is also receiving a purse of $40,000. The 28-year-old Williams weighed in at 154 lbs. Gallimore weighed in at 153 lbs.
Williams has won his last two fights since losing to former IBF 154 lb. champion Jermall Charlo by a 5th round knockout on December 10, 2016. Williams was knocked down three times by Charlo in losing that fight. Since then, Williams has beaten Joshua Conley and Ishe Smith. Those were good wins for #6 IBF Williams against weaker opposition.
#5 IBF Gallimore is coming into the fight with a 7-fight winning streak since losing to Virgilijus Stapulionis by a 10 round split decision in June 2016. Gallimore also has an 8 round draw against Urmat Ryskeldiev in October 2015. Unfortunately, Gallimore hasn’t beaten any good opposition in his career, so he’s likely going to be over his head against ‘J-Rock’ Williams on Saturday.
In other weights on the card, former WBC light middleweight champion Sergio ‘Latin Snake’ Mora (28-5-2, 9 KOs) weighed in at 162.4 lbs. for his 8 round fight against Alfredo Angulo (24-6, 20 KOs). For his part, Angulo weighed in at 167.5 lbs. Mora has lost his last two fights to Daniel Jacobs by knockout in 2015 and 2016. Mora didn’t fight at all in 2017, and he’s been out of action now for the last 19 months. The 35-year-old Angulo has lost 4 out of his last 7 fights.
Angulo lost to journeyman Freddy Hernandez by a 10 round unanimous decision in August 2016. Angulo has been out of action for the last 20 months. You have to wonder whether Angulo will continue fighting if he loses to Mora on Saturday. Staying out of the ring for 20 months is a sign that Angulo might not have the same love for boxing that he once did. Angulo lost to James DeGale Rosa and Saul Canelo Alvarez in 2014, and Erislandy Lara in 2013 and James Kirkland in 2011. Those were all fights in which Angulo took a lot of punishment.
Other weights on Saturday’s card:
Emanuel Medina 146.2 vs. Saul Corral 146
Xavier Martinez 131 vs. Jairo Vargas 131.8
Ahmed Mahmood 124.6 vs. Sharone Carter 125.4