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Luis Arias scored a deserved and very solid upset win over Jarrett Hurd, battling through a slippery ring under rainy skies in Miami on the Mayweather vs Paul undercard.
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Scores were 95-94 Hurd, 96-93 Arias, and 97-93 Arias. Bad Left Hook also had it for Arias on a tally of 97-93.
It’s a clear career-best win for Arias (19-2-1, 9 KO), who had fallen short in his three biggest fights before, never quite putting it all together on those fight nights. But he did it here, as he was able to consistently land clean right hands especially on Hurd (24-2, 16 KO), who never quite found a rhythm, although he fought in typical Hurd style, trying to break Arias down and take over the fight in the second half.
It just didn’t happen, though. A knockdown call against Arias in the ninth round was extremely controversial, and replays showed it was clearly a slip on the wet canvas. Hurd did clip Arias right after the bell to end the 10th and final round, but while it wouldn’t have been a terrible call on a knockdown there, the referee got that one right, as the shot did seem to land just after the bell sounded.
Arias beat his chest a bit after the win, which he should have, as this was a legitimate, deserved upset victory.
“People close to me were telling to get a job, give up on boxing, and I’m here,” he said with real emotion. He also said that Hurd probably could have gotten him out if he’d been able to find him more, admitting that Hurd had him buzzed in the fight.
“Jarrett Hurd’s a hell of a fighter, and he’s not done, man,” Arias said in praise of his opponent.
“I believe I won the fight,” Hurd said. “I had him out sometimes and they gave him a break wiping off the ring, but they gave him the fight and I have to go with what they said. The plan was to come in here and box but we couldn’t move around as much because the ring was slippery.”
There was some talk of a rematch at 154, where Hurd means to campaign and Arias has wanted to fight going forward.
.@Swift_JHurd & @LuisCubaArias are delivering on their promise of bringing the fans a fight of the year worthy fight! #MayweatherPaul #BraggingRights pic.twitter.com/my3g9EAViN
— Mayweather Promotions (@MayweatherPromo) June 7, 2021
Round 9 was fun #HurdArias #MayweatherPaul pic.twitter.com/dWIH6bvxS7
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) June 7, 2021