By Dan Ambrose: Jarrett Hurd will be defending his IBF/WBA junior middleweight titles against #1 IBF Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams on May 11 at a still to be determined venue in the U.S, according to Mike Coppinger. The fight could take place at either the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York or Washington DC. This will be a Premier Boxing Champions televised fight on FOX or possibly SHOWTIME.
Williams (26-1, 16 KOs) has experience and punching power going for him. This could be a competitive fight for Hurd. That’s what the boxing public is hoping for. They want to see Hurd fighting good opposition like Tony Harrison, Jermell Charlo, Jaime Munguia or a rematch with Erislandy Lara, who he defeated by a 12 round split decision last year in April.
This is expected to be a harder fight for the 28-year-old Hurd than his last fight against the badly over-matched British fighter Jason Welborn (24-7, 7 KOs), who he knocked out in four rounds last month on December 1 on the undercard of the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury card on SHOWTIME PPV at the Staples Center in Brooklyn, New York. Welborn had his moments in the fight in landing some nice shots in the first three rounds including the fourth. However, once Welborn woke Hurd up in the 4th, he was taken out immediately. Hurd backed Welborn up and dropped him with a body shot. It looked Hurd was taking it easy with Welborn until the fourth. He got serious with the British fighter after he started connecting with some heavy shots.
“Jarrett Hurd will defend unified junior middleweight championship against Julian Williams on May 11, Williams’ manager/trainer, @BreadmanBoxing, tells me,” Mike Coppinger said on his Twitter.
This will be the second fight for Hurd since coming back from shoulder surgery to repair his torn right rotator cuff. Hurd looked good, but not great in his first fight back from the surgery against Welborn. The reason why Hurd was matched so softly against the 32-year-old Welborn was because he was coming off the shoulder surgery. If not for that, Hurd clearly would have been put in with one of the good contenders like J-Rock, Maciej Sulecki or Erickson Lubin.
Hurd had been hoping to face former WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo in a unification fight in 2019, but he was beaten last month in a title defense against Tony Harrison. Charlo and Harrison will be facing each other in a rematch in the first half of this year. The winner of that fight will likely face Hurd later on this year.