Wilder vs Fury results: Jarrett Hurd knocks out Jason Welborn to retain titles

Jason Welborn came over to the United States as a massive underdog and gave it all he had, but he just didn’t have the power or size to really bother Jarrett Hurd, who knocked Welborn out in the fourth round to retain the WBA and IBF 154-pound titles.

Hurd (23-0, 16 KO) is known to be a bit of a slow starter, and was coming in off of a shoulder surgery following his April win over Erislandy Lara. So Welborn (24-7, 7 KO) did his best to start fast and get to the champion early, landing some good shots in the first few rounds.

Welborn started strong again in the fourth, landing a lot of shots with Hurd sitting against the ropes, and Hurd clearly came to realize there simply wasn’t going to be a lot of time to “get rounds in” against this guy.

So Hurd opened up on offense himself, and landed a crushing right hand to the body, which put Welborn down on the canvas for a count of 10. The official time was 1:55 of round four.

“We wanted to see how I’d work with the jab and practice on my defense, but he caught me with some good shots and I said, ‘Alright, it’s enough playing now, he got enough TV time,’” Hurd told Showtime’s Jim Gray after the fight.

Hurd also had an in-ring moment with WBC titleholder Jermell Charlo, with both claiming they want to fight one another to further unify the division. Hurd says he’ll have a “hometown” fight first, while Charlo is currently set to face Tony Harrison on Dec. 22.

This was also the final fight for veteran referee Dr. Lou Moret, who has been the third man in the ring for 614 fights over 36 years. BLH sends him our best as he ends his career.