By Mike Smith: IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd (23-0, 16 KOs) plans on moving up to middleweight in 2020 after he fights a unification match against the winner of the September rematch between WBC 154 lb champion Tony Harrison and former WBC belt holder Jermell Charlo, according to Mike Coppinger.
At middleweight, Hurd will be a real threat to the likes of Saul Canelo Alvarez, Jermall Charlo, Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders, Demetrius Andrade, Rob Brant and possibly Gennady Golovkin. The only question is whether Hurd can get fights any of those guys besides Charlo, who is also with Premier Boxing Champions and fights on SHOWTIME. Canelo, Jacobs and Andrade are all with DAZN, and Brant is with Top Rank Boxing on ESPN. If those fighters are stuck competing on their network platforms. However, as long as guys like Jacobs and Canelo are interested in holding down world titles at 160, it gives Hurd a chance of fighting them as long as he become a mandatory challenger. Just being a mandatory to someone like Canelo doesn’t mean Hurd will get a fight quickly. Look at Jermall Charlo as an exmple of that. He’s been the World Boxing Council mandatory challenger at middleweight for two years since 2017, and yet he STILL hasn’t gotten a title shot against Golovkin initially and now Canelo. Speaking of GGG, he probably won’t bother fighting Hurd before he retires. Golovkin is expected to sign a multi-fight deal with DAZN, and if that happens, he’s probably going to face only fighters signed to Matchroom Boxing USA/DAZN. Hurd would be on the other side of the fence, and won’t likely get a fight against Triple G.
Tony Harrison (28-2, 21 KOs) pulled off a big upset on December 22 last year in beating WBC 154 lb champion Jermell Charlo (31-1, 15 KOs) by a close 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112. Charlo, 28, wants a rematch with Harrison, and those two are expected to face each other in September. It doesn’t matter to Hurd which of the two emerge as the winner. Hurd just wants to fight whoever comes out on top in their rematch.
Hurd, 28, recently defeated Erislandy Lara by a 12 round split decision to win his WBA Super World junior middleweight title in a unification fight last April. Hurd subsquently had shoulder surgery, and came back eight months later to stop British fighter Jason Welborn (24-7, 7 KOs) by a fourth round knockout on December 1 on the undercard of Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Hurd tried to take things slow in the first three rounds, but found himself getting nailed by Welborn, was going all out with his offense from the start of the fight. Hurd was forced to shift into high gear in the 4th after taking some heavy shots from Welborn. Once Hurd started to unload on Welborn with everything he had, he was able to knock him out. It wasn’t a great performance from Hurd. What he showed in that fight is he cannot afford to take it easy on his opponents, because they’re going to be motivated every time to try and knock him out.
“Jarrett Hurd is planning to move up to 160 after a September unification bout against the winner of Jermell Charlo-Tony Harrison 2,” Coppinger said on his Twitter.
If Hurd can beat Jermell Charlo, and then move up to defeat his twin brother Jermall Charlo, who some boxing fans feel is the better of the two, it would be a nice accomplishment for Jarrett. However, Hurd won’t be satisfied with just defeating interim WBC 160 lb champion Jermall. He’ll want to go after Canelo for his WBA/WBC titles, and/or Jacobs, depending on if he beats Alvarez in their unification fight on May 4.