As everybody knows, I wasn't really feeling this guy's style and kept on picking against him (even losing my first ever forum avatar bet when he defeated Erislandy Lara) - but he is currently the man to beat at 154lbs and boasts a much better resume in the division than fellow titlists Jermell De'Avante Charlo and Jaime Aaron Munguía Escobedo. His rumored next defense, however (3rd of his IBF title and first of the IBO & WBA titles he lifted from Lara) is a step in the wrong direction. If the rumors are true, he will face the BBBofC middleweight champion Jason Welborn, potentially on the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury undercard, or another date in December. "Chip" Welborn, coming off a consecutive pair of SD victories over Tommy Langford, has purportedly vacated his British 160lb title in order to move down for the challenge. While that is a garbage fire of a gimme title defense, and I've certainly levied my share of acerbic criticisms of Hurd in the past, this is a picture-perfect uppercut: This content is protected For a guy that doesn't really do a lot what you'd call "textbook", you couldn't find a more fitting clip to accompany the dictionary entry or Wikipedia page for the word uppercut. And I think one just like that will leave the Black Country lad flattened & done for, within five rounds. Then hopefully a rapid course-correct and onto consolidating the belts (or at least taking on serious challenges again).
He's ducking Castano, he don't want none of that smoke. This is an abysmal opponent, his worst since picking on tiny little Jo Jo Dan.
I'm not sure I'd even pick Chip h2h over Ionut with too much confidence. Granted, I didn't catch either fight with Langford but having never rated him (even before he ran into Khurtsidze) those don't impress me too much on paper.
Given that he's coming off consecutive wins over Tony Harrison, Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara, I'm inclined to give Hurd a bit of slack for taking a softer touch, especially given that he;s coming off shoulder surgery. Plus, he's staying fairly active, and that's never a bad thing. This opponent is kinda disappointing, though, in spite of the fact that Welborn's game as hell and coming off stirring performances in fight with Langford and Morrisson. Would have liked to have seen Welborn's one-time conqueror Liam Smith get the call instead if Hurd was looking for a showcase.
Yeah based on his run he probably has earned one pass, but he better not follow this up with like Sam Vargas or something.
And yeah Hurd vs. Beefy makes a ton of sense, now that you mention it. Even with him coming directly off a loss I think most people would consider that a more creditable defense than Welborn (all due respect but the Baggie is simply a level or two shy of the bar here)
Me neither, IMO Langford aside from having no chin and going down in both fights, he did enough to win both over Welborn. I scored both in his favor, the first fight by a wider margin.
He just had shoulder surgery, and his previous 2 opponents were Lara and Trout. Let him have an easy fight and see how his surgery went before he takes on another big fight.
LOL Jason Welborn? Really? That is a pathetic fight, he should have to fight this with one arm and his feet tied together. Welborn did hammer Langford twice, but Langford is a total no hoper lol
I like Hurd. Like you I didn’t like his limited open style at first. I dismissively called him a black, more athletic and more powerful version of Sam Eggington. But he’s slowly winning me over. He repeatedly called out Brook but Brook didn’t want anything to do with him.
Oh, he would smash Eggington (and I would've though so even before the KO upset by a random Tanzanian )
I really like the workhorse style , does nothing great but the will of Terminator. God dammed machine . I thought there were talks of him vs Charlo before the shoulder injury /surgery. As long as he takes this as a warm up and kind of a feeling out thing for his shoulder recovery I'm cool
I said this before. Hurd could be a HUGE star, if he was managed properly. He’s already accomplished a lot by stopping Trout and beating Lara. He should fight and beat Liam Smith in the UK. This would boost his profile and set him up for a big money fight, again in the UK, against Brook. Knocking off Smith and Brook could lead to another UK fight against Khan. Having cleaned out 3 of the biggest names from the UK at/around 154, he could finish off his career with fights against Charlo and Munguía. Assuming he wins these 5 matches, which I think he can do, he’d be roughly 30 years old, undefeated at 27-0, and a lock for the HOF. Not the prettiest technician out there, but there’s a lot to like about Hurd. He comes from a nice family, carries himself like a gentleman, and has the willpower to outlast more gifted boxers. Unfortunately, as a Haymon controlled fighter, most of what I said is unrealistic.