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Jarrett Hurd made a splash tonight on CBS, stopping Oscar Molina in the final round, albeit a bit controversially on what may be seen as an early hook by referee Ricky Gonzalez.
Regardless, Hurd (18-0, 12 KO) stays undefeated and moving forward as a noteworthy 154-pound prospect, but don’t write off Molina (13-1-1, 10 KO), either. He did some good work in this fight, landing some shots and staying in the fight, but Hurd was just more dynamic, had more in his toolbox, and was the better man. He dropped Molina hard on a brutal counter uppercut in the first round, and that set the tone effectively.
But Molina didn’t appear to be in any real danger when the referee stepped in, and considering there was only 58 seconds remaining, it’s at least questionable. But the referee also surely did it for a good reason, and he was the one right there with them. Plus, Molina was losing, and wasn’t going to win. At the time of the stoppage, the judges had it 87-83, 88-82, and 90-80 for Hurd. BLH had it 88-82 for Hurd.
SHO Stats had Hurd landing 275 of 744 (37%) of his total punches, including 220 of 559 (39%) of his power shots, easily outpacing Molina, who landed 126 of 376 (34%) total punches, and 107 of 302 (35%) power punches.