Great Fight. I think Williams is an excellent fighter. Skilled, great timing, can come forward or counter. I actually thought his fight with Charlo was 50/50 going into the fight. Williams more than held his own in the fight while it lasted. Ultimately he got caught with a shot by a huge junior middleweight. Anybody can get caught so I'm not putting too much stock into that. I'm more concerned with what happened after that. He beat Ishe Smith by the skin of his teeth. He seemed to fade late in the fight against a much older Smith. He was outclassing Gallimore early but again Gallimore came on strong late in the fight. I'm concerned about his endurance. Especially against a guy who has shown he can go 12 hard rounds and will most likely force J Rock to fight all 12. A guy that walks around at Cruiserweight. We have seen Hurd come from behind to stop Harrison and Trout. We have seen him drop Lara in the 12th giving him the win in an extremely close fight. If JRock doesn't stop Hurd who seems to have a decent chin, it could be a long night.
2. "Hurd's pressure and size will be too much" In response to Reply # 0
As you mentioned, Williams went the distance (10 rds) with Ishe Smith. He also went 12 with Nathaniel Gallimore in a competitive fight. It's going to take either a master boxer or another guy walking around at cruiserweight or heavyweight to beat Hurd at 154. He's just too big for pretty much everyone fighting at the weight class. We've watched this guy get outboxed over and over while he's doing absolutely nothing but stalking and applying pressure, showcasing to true skill in the ring... winning on pure weight and size. Even Jason Wellborn was outboxing him, but Hurd literally blasted this guy outta there the moment he felt like it. Hurd even said that after the fight. It always looks like he's fighting guys who are too small to be in the ring with him, and it's getting boring. Move up already, dude. But anyway, good luck to J-Rock, but I have very little faith in him being able to deal with Hurd's size.
3. "showcasing no true skill *" In response to Reply # 2
>We've watched this guy >get outboxed over and over while he's doing absolutely nothing >but stalking and applying pressure, showcasing to true skill >in the ring... winning on pure weight and size.
4. "RE: showcasing no true skill *" In response to Reply # 3
>>We've watched this guy >>get outboxed over and over while he's doing absolutely >nothing >>but stalking and applying pressure, showcasing to true skill >>in the ring... winning on pure weight and size.
I think you are selling Hurd a bit short. We have watched him get outboxed by world class "boxers." But if you watch some of his earlier fights before he got to the championship level he showed more boxing ability. Trout soundly defeated Cotto and was in tough with Canelo. Lara is one of the greatest boxers of his era. The Harrison/Charlo fight was no fluke. I think it takes more than size alone to win fights at the highest level.
5. "RE: showcasing no true skill *" In response to Reply # 4
>I think you are selling Hurd a bit short. We have watched him >get outboxed by world class "boxers." But if you watch some >of his earlier fights before he got to the championship level >he showed more boxing ability.
I agree that he boxed completely differently THEN. He used movement and exercised patience. Lately, he just uses pressure and size as if a light bulb went off in his head and he said to himself "Wait a minute! I'm too big for all the guys in this weight class! Why am I wasting time trying to 'box' them? I can just walk them down." And that's exactly what he started doing.
>Trout soundly defeated Cotto >and was in tough with Canelo. Lara is one of the greatest >boxers of his era. The Harrison/Charlo fight was no fluke. I >think it takes more than size alone to win fights at the >highest level.
Charlo and Harrison are pretty much the same size and Harrison outboxed Charlo.. very nicely. I love watching that fight.. watched it many times since it aired. Cotto was a small 154 also. Notice none of those guys walk around at cruiserweight. Here's the thing... if you're walking around at cruiserweight/heavyweight, no fight at 154 is the "highest level" for you. Against both Trout and Lara, Hurd was thoroughly outboxed and caught with multiple clean shots. If those two guys shared his own size and strength, he would've been KO'd or at least staggered multiple times. Hell Trout just looked like he wore himself out beating up on Hurd while Hurd just kept drudging forward like a caveman on some unga bunga. This is why we have weight classes. Trout and Lara being high level boxers is the only reason they did so well against a guy that big. However, all he did was take their shots and keep applying pressure. He didn't show any sound defense, head movement, IQ.. nothing. He didn't even need boxing training to win those fights the way he did. The most I can give him is that he cut the ring off pretty well and had decent stamina (and he invested in the body a lot in the Lara fight). If you have enough size in a fight, those two things are all you need. His greatest skill is his ability to cut 50 lbs. I'm just tired of seeing this guy at 154 unless another cruiserweight is gonna shrink down there to fight him. I like seeing boxing skill. If you're so big for your weight class that you don't need it, it's time to move up and challenge yourself unless you're a heavyweight and there's no where else to go. Just my thoughts on Hurd.
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