Hustle and Muscle Carry Jarrett Hurd Past Erislandy Lara

The judging of boxing matches is not unlike an art aficionado’s impressions of the masterworks hanging in the Louvre. Some official observers go ga-ga over Monet

Published

6 years ago

April 8, 2018

Bernard Fernandez

The judging of boxing matches is not unlike an art aficionado’s impressions of the masterworks hanging in the Louvre. Some official observers go ga-ga over Monet, others prefer Picasso. That, perhaps as much as anything, accounts for the sometimes wildly divergent scoring of fights in which the participants’ styles are radically different. Whenever such a contrast occurs, the winner, if the bout goes to the scorecards, more often than not is the guy who gets the other fighter to bend to his will.

Framed in that manner, Jarrett “Swift” Hurd’s 12-round split decision in his 154-pound unification showdown with fellow titlist Erislandy Lara at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, makes perfect sense, and offers at least a hint of controversy for those holding the minority viewpoint. It also becomes an early entrant for consideration as Fight of the Year, a surprisingly (or perhaps not) entertaining affair in which both determined champions reached deep inside themselves to find that little bit extra that often determines who has his hand raised after the final bell.

“Lara is the type of guy that always had trouble with pressure fighters,” said Hurd, the IBF junior middleweight champion who annexed Lara’s WBA super welterweight title by virtue of the 114-113 cards submitted by Glenn Feldman and Dave Moretti, offsetting the 114-113 tabulation for the expatriate Cuban southpaw as assessed by Burt Clements. “I knew that my size and power, if I was able to pressure him the way I did, would be successful.”

The outcome literally hung in the balance until the last 36 seconds, when Hurd, a 27-year-old perpetual motion machine from Accokeek, Md., who bears more than a passing resemblance (the bleached blond hairdo helps) to New York Giants superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., floored Lara with a short left hook that landed flush. Although Lara beat the count, his trip to the canvas turned what otherwise would have been a 10-9 round for Hurd into a 10-8, giving the younger man (Lara turns 35 on April 11) a razor-thin victory instead of having to settle for a majority draw.

The Houston-based Lara and his trainer, Ronnie Shields, vociferously objected to what they perceived as perhaps biased scoring. Their position is that Lara, despite either opting to or being forced into more two-way trading than he normally prefers, had played to his own strengths often enough to get the nod.

“I thought I was winning the fight easily,” said Lara, whose badly swollen right eye certainly gave him the look of someone who had gotten the worst of the mid-to late-round exchanges. “(The knockdown) shouldn’t decide the fight. One punch in a fight doesn’t determine the fight. One hundred percent, I want a rematch.”

Said Shields, floating a conspiracy theory that frequently emanates from the loser’s side: “Every time (Lara) fights in Vegas they screw him. It ain’t right. The man cannot catch a break.”

Punch statistics, a useful but hardly conclusive tool for determining what actually takes place in the ring, offered no real insight as to whose version of the story is more accurate. The busier, harder-hitting Hurd connected on 217 of 824 (26 percent) to 176 of 572 (31 percent) for Lara, but Hurd’s advantage in volume on power shots (186 of 641, 29 percent) negated Lara’s more precise placement (123 of 267, an impressive 46 percent). The gap over the last four rounds – Hurd outlanded Lara, 106-71, with a 96-58 edge in power punches – was even more pronounced.

Despite Lara’s insistence that he is deserving of an immediate rematch, Hurd – who has stamped himself as a fun-to-watch action fighter, if not necessarily a candidate for pound-for-pound consideration – most likely will move on to another unification clash, which is in keeping with Showtime’s master plan to fully unify the division. WBC super welterweight champ Jermell Charlo (30-0, 15 KOs), who defends his strap against the ever-popular opponent to be named on June 9 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, was at ringside for Hurd-Lara and he said he’s ready, willing and able to hurt Hurd should he get past his upcoming mystery guest.

“I’m down. Let’s go,” Charlo said of his interest in a go at Hurd, whose style is a much closer approximation of his own than was Lara’s. But, he added, “Hurd has to get his defense together because he cannot get hit by me like that. Lara doesn’t move like he used to. If he moves like he used to, he wins the fight.”

A slight favorite going into Saturday night’s (or very early Sunday morning, for those viewers on the East Coast) scrap with the larger but less-experienced Hurd, Lara – a now-naturalized U.S. citizen who successfully defected from Cuba in 2007, after an earlier attempt failed – has been a darling of certain critics and box-office poison with the public at large throughout his long championship reign. Those who appreciate his work have likened him to such patient craftsmen as Swiss watchmakers and doctorate-level mathematicians. His gift is not necessarily looking good himself, but making his opponents look clumsy and inept. Now, having failed to retain his title in his seventh defense of it, his leverage for continuing to be put into high-visibility bouts has been at least somewhat compromised.

“It was a good fight for the fans,” he said of the bout in which he was obliged to stray from the small-arms sniper fire in which he normally excels. “I stood and fought a lot and it was fun. I thought I clearly won the fight. Once again a decision goes against me, but hey, we just got to do a rematch.”

Had Lara been more inclined to engage when he was establishing himself as a world-class boxer, he might not have had to so often showcase his obvious talents in small rooms, such as the Hard Rock’s sold-out but cozy “The Joint,” which sold out Saturday night but for a crowd of just 2,579 spectators. Then again, like another Cuban expatriate southpaw similarly resistant to make adjustments to a style which has long worked for him, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Lara is a leopard that never has found a reason to change its spots, unless forced to do so. Hurd – four inches taller at 6-foot-1 and with a 2½-inch reach advantage – was just the guy to bully Lara out of his comfort zone.

Hurd is a temperamental and stylistic opposite of Lara, and as long as he continues to provide a high thrill quotient while cutting the occasional corner on refined niceties, he will continue to develop a fan base that is cottoning to his let ’er rip mindset. He likely would be the underdog for a meeting with Charlo, but his relentlessness of effort could soon make him must-watch TV. It could also make him susceptible to the wrong side of the quick-strike outcomes that thus far have stamped him as a rising star. But Hurd is the man of the moment, and it feels damn good.

“I’m No. 1 (at 154) now,” he crowed. “I’m in control. I’m going to call the shots.”

Photo credit: Chris Farina / Mayweather Promotions

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Bernard Fernandez

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 282: Ryan’s Song, Golden Boy in Fresno and More

Published

7 hours ago

April 26, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-282-Ryan's-Song-Golden-Boy-in-Fresno-and-More

Don’t call it an upset.

Days after Ryan Garcia proved the experts wrong, those same experts are re-tooling their evaluation processes.

It’s mind-boggling to me that 95 percent thought Garcia had no chance. Hear me out.

First, Garcia and Haney fought six times as amateurs with each winning three. But this time with no head gear and smaller gloves, Garcia had to have at least a 50/50 chance of winning. He is faster and a more powerful puncher.

Facts.

Haney is a wonderful boxer with smooth, almost artistic movements. But history has taught us power and speed like Garcia’s can’t be discounted. Think way back to legendary fighters like Willie Pep and Sandy Sadler. All that excellent defensive skill could not prevent Sadler from beating Pep in three of their four meetings.

Power has always been an equalizer against boxing skill.

Ben Lira, one of the wisest and most experienced trainers in Southern California, always professed knockout power was the greatest equalizer in a fight. “You can be behind for nine rounds and one punch can change the outcome,” he said.

Another weird theory spreading before the fight was that Garcia would quit in the fight. That was a puzzling one. Getting stopped by a perfect body shot is not quitting. And that punch came from Gervonta “Tank” Davis who can really crack.

So how did Garcia do it?

In the opening round Ryan Garcia timed Devin Haney’s jab and countered with a snapping left hook that rattled and wobbled the super lightweight champion. After that, Garcia forced Haney to find another game plan.

Garcia and trainer Derrick James must have worked hours on that move.

I must confess that I first saw Garcia’s ability many years ago when he was around 11 or 12. So I do have an advantage regarding his talent. A few things I noticed even back then were his speed and power. Also, that others resented his talent but respected him. He was the guy with everything: talent and looks.

And that brings resentment.

Recently I saw him and his crew rapping a song on social media. Now he’s got a song. Next thing you know Hollywood will be calling and he’ll be in the movies. It’s happened before with fighters such as Art Aragon, the first Golden Boy in the 50s. He was dating movie stars and getting involved with starlets all over Hollywood.

Is history repeating itself or is Garcia creating a new era for boxing?

Since 2016 people claimed he was just a social media creation. Now, after his win over Devin Haney a former undisputed lightweight champion and the WBC super lightweight titleholder, the boxer from the high desert area of Victorville has become one of the highest paid fighters in the world.

Ryan Garcia has entered a new dimension.

Golden Boy Season

After several down years the Los Angeles-based company Golden Boy Promotions suddenly is cracking the whip in 2024.

Avila

Vergil Ortiz Jr. (20-0, 20 KOs) returns to the ring and faces Puerto Rico’s Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1, 17 KOs) a welterweight gatekeeper who lost to Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis. They meet as super welterweights in the co-main event at Save Mart Arena in Fresno, Calif. on Saturday, April 27. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card live.

It’s a quick return to action for Ortiz who is still adjusting to the new weight division. His last fight three months ago ended in less than one round in Las Vegas. It was cut short by an antsy referee and left Ortiz wanting more after more than a year of inactivity in the prize ring.

Ortiz has all the weapons.

Also, Northern California’s Jose Carlos Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) meets Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KOs) in a welterweight affair set for 12 rounds.

It’s difficult to believe that former super lightweight titlist Ramirez has been written off by fans after only one loss. That was several years ago against Scotland’s Josh Taylor. One loss does not mean the end of a career.

“My goal is to get back on top and to get all those belts back. I still feel like I am one of the best 140-pounders in the division,” said Ramirez who lives in nearby Avenal, Calif.

An added major attraction features Marlen Esparza in a unification rematch against Gabriela “La Chucky” Alaniz for the WBA, WBC, WBO flyweight titles. Their first fight was

a controversial win by Esparza that saw one judge give her nine of 10 rounds in a very close fight. Those Texas judges.

In a match that could steal the show, Oscar Duarte (26-2-1, 21 KOs) faces former world champion Jojo Diaz (33-5-1, 15 KOs) in a lightweight match.

Munguia and Canelo

Don’t sleep on this match.

Its current Golden Boy fighter Jaime Munguia facing former Golden Boy fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a battle between Mexico’s greatest sluggers next week at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 4.

“I think Jaime Munguia is going to do something special in the ring,” said Oscar De La Hoya, the CEO for Golden Boy.

Tijuana’s Munguia showed up at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood where a throng of media from Mexico and the US met him.

Munguia looked confident and happy about his opportunity to fight great Canelo.

“It’s a hard fight,” said Munguia. “Truth is, its big for Mexico and not only for Mexicans but for boxing.”

Fights to Watch

Fri. DAZN 6 p.m. Yoeniz Tellez (7-0) vs Joseph Jackson (19-0).

Sat. DAZN 9:30 a.m. Peter McGrail (8-1) vs Marc Leach (18-3-1); Beatriz Ferreira (4-0) vs Yanina Del Carmen 14-3).

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Vergil Ortiz (20-0) vs Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1); Jose Carlos Ramirez (28-1) vs Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1); Marlen Esparza (14-1) vs Gabriela Alaniz (14-1).

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy Promotions

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Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

2 days ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Ramon-Cardenas-Channels-Micky-Ward-and-KOs-Eduardo-Ramirez-on-ProBox

The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

4 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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