Article by Rick Mohamed

Luis Arias pulls off a major upset in defeat of former unified champion Hurd

Miami, FL.: Luis Arias let his hands go, beat his opponent to the punch, and got the victory, a split decision, over former junior middleweight Jarrett “Swift” Hurd. This is considered a major upset, for Hurd is considered the No.1 contender for the 154 lb. title. 

Hurd, a former unified champion who suffered only his 2nd career loss, was devastated. His father had recently passed, and he was on the comeback trail. He was quite motivated. 

However, Arias let his hands go, delivering timely shots that Hurd had no answer to. At the end, the judges scored the fight, a split decision, in favor of Arias. After the fight, both fighters had something to say:

Luis Arias

“I came in here and challenged the No. 1 guy at 154 pounds and we fought somewhere halfway and I was able to edge a decision. Props to Jarrett Hurd. You fought a great fight. Honestly, you could have had me out of there. I was definitely buzzed. If you would have found a way, I definitely would have gone down.

“He is a great fighter and like I told him afterwards, he came in here and fought his heart out. He definitely should have taken more time off with what he was dealing with outside of the ring.

“We’re here. I never quit on myself. People close to me were telling me to get a job and quit boxing. I just beat a former champion. Don’t ever give up on yourself.

“I would like to thank Ismael Salas as well. I came to him semi-late. About six or seven weeks and I needed to change something in my game plan to beat Jarrett. The things I was doing before would have gotten me a loss tonight. I needed somebody to just tweak a little bit and put my game up a little bit so I could beat this champion. Jarrett is a hell of a fighter and he’s not done.

“My key to victory was staying confident. Staying confident and sticking to the game plan. Knowing I’m the better fighter. Knowing I’m in better shape and I hit harder. I’m a better boxer and my defense is better. I’m better than him and I just proved it.

“The game plan was to jump on him, get the early lead and keep it. I felt like in the middle rounds I was wining the fight but you never know because I wasn’t the A-side in this fight. I buzzed him a lot especially on the inside. If we were fighting at 154, he would have gotten knocked out. Everybody knows it.

“I’ve been around the Charlos. They are great champions. I’m not going to sit here and call out [Jermell] Charlo. I have to earn my stripes. Had I beat Hurd at 154, maybe I could mention him. But I can’t. The goal is to go down to 154 pounds and fight a former challenger.”

Jarrett Hurd

“I’m not sure what went wrong tonight. I believe I won the fight. I had a knockdown. I could make a hundred excuses but it wasn’t a great performance.

“The plan coming out in the first round was to box. I wasn’t as confident in my feet as the rain came down, so I had to go toe-to-toe more. That wasn’t really what we trained for, so I was a bit sloppy.

“I’ll take the rematch at whatever weight. I know I’m the better man.”

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