By Matt Lieberman: Former two-division world champion Badou Jack (24-3-3, 14 KOs) destroyed replacement opponent Dervin Colina (15-1, 13 KOs) by a third-round knockout on Sunday night on the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Logan Paul card at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Jack, 37, knocked Colina down three times in the third round to get the stoppage. Colina was entirely over-matched, forcing him to hold continuously. In the second and third, Colina was docked points for his excessive clinging. The time of the stoppage was at 2:57 of the third.
Badou had been scheduled to fight WBA light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, but the fight was canceled after Pascal came up dirty in testing positive for several banned substances.
In a big upset tonight, middleweight Luis Arias (19-2-1, 9 KOs) defeated former IBF/WBA 154-lb champion Jarrett Hurd (24-2, 16 KOs) by a 10 round split decision.
.@BadouJack stops Colina with his 3rd knockdown in round 4 đź’Ąđź‘€ #JackColina #MayweatherPaul pic.twitter.com/eVLhKTR9G3
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) June 7, 2021
Coming into the fight, Hurd was the big favorite to win, but he didn’t have it tonight. The energy that Hurd had shown in fights against Erislandy Lara, Tony Harrison, and Austin Trout wasn’t there tonight.
Hurd was given credit for a knockdown of Areia in the ninth in what appeared to be a slip. The ruling stood despite replays showing that it was a slip. Fortunately, the blown call by the referee didn’t impact the results of the fight.
.@LuisCubaArias is feeling it after taking down Jarrett Hurd đź’Ż #HurdArias #MayweatherPaul pic.twitter.com/paJUtEgiUp
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) June 7, 2021
Arias, 30, hadn’t won a fight in four years since 2017, but he looked like a rejuvenated fighter with the way he took the fight to Hurd.
Luis outworked Hurd and impressed the judges by being the busier of the two.
Hurd, 30, was landing the harder shots throughout, but he wasn’t landing enough of them. He’s usually much better than what we saw tonight, but it could be that the weight that he had to take off sapped his energy.
The scores were 97-93, 96-93 for Arias, and 95-94 for Hurd. Boxing News 24 had it for Arias 97-93.
In round two, Arias was cut on the forehead, but he could fight hard without it affecting him.
In the 10th, Arias finished strong, appearing to hurt the exhausted Hurd with his shots.
It’s unclear whether Hurd can go from here with his career. An obvious move would be for Hurd to move up to 160 to see if he’s stronger in that weight class.
At this point in Hurd’s career, he appears to have outgrown the 154-lb weight class, and he needs to consider moving up to 160 or 168. If Hurd stays at 154, he could be asking for trouble.
Hurd hasn’t looked impressive since his war with Erislandy Lara in 2018. That fight took a lot out of Hurd, who needed shoulder surgery.
Hurd’s four fights since his war with Lara:
- Jason Welborn – KO 4
- Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams UD 12 LOSS
- Francisco Santana – UD 10 win
- Luis Arias – SD 10 LOSS
In other fights on tonights’ card, former NFL wide receiver Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson fought former MMA fighter Brian Maxwell in a four-round exhibition match with no winner.
It was a fight that could only be won by knockout. In the fourth round, Maxwell knocked the 40-year-old Johnson down.