Jarrett Hurd: Back and Better
Ever since his May 11 loss to Julian “J-Rock” Williams (27-1-1, 16 KO’s), Jarrett “Swift” Hurd (23-1, 16 KO’s) has been hard man to track down. This should not come as any tremendous shock, The defeat by J-Rock was the first of his career. He lost a trio of belts and it all happened in front of his hometown crowd.
Even more detrimental than that, after the bout, Hurd’s long time relationship with his chief second Ernesto Rodriguez suddenly and unexpectedly dissolved. The tsunami level of change, loss and upheaval in his life left Swift reeling and uncertain about what move to make next. Like all true champions and resolved people do, eventually Hurd found his footing and began his long climb back to the top.
WHICH WAY IS UP?
During the height of this chaos Hurd was well aware of the fact that he could take on Williams in a rematch to reclaim his valuable hardware. For a brief instance this appeared to be what was going to happen. That was until Hurd thought better of the move and withdrew from the do-over. Naturally, Swift took a few lumps in the media as a result.
The common thought was Hurd had either lost his fire to fight or felt as if J-Rock had his number. The speculation has run rampant for months due to Swift adhering to a strict no-communication protocol. With no information from the horse’s mouth the comments from the peanut gallery ruled the day.
This all changed when Hurd finally opened up about all these matters at the official presser for his upcoming January 25 prizefight with Francisco “Chia” Santana (25-7-1, 12 KO’s). While at the podium, the tough former champion voluntarily answered most of the questions he knew the public was burning to know. Hurd spoke of his mentality after the Williams fight, what he did, why he separated with Ernesto and why he opted to delay his rematch with Williams.
“No, I will not be moving up to 160. I will stay at 154, I will be fighting to get my titles back. That’s not to look past Francisco Santana. He’s a great fighter, but I’m just looking to regain my titles and get back to the old me…so just because I fell back doesn’t mean I fell off.”
THE REASON FOR NO REMATCH
In the end, Hurd realized that J-Rock was too ferocious and talented a fighter to face with less than peak preparation. With his head still spinning and team exploded, Swift believed it would be foolish to tangle with the hard-nosed Philly bruiser under those conditions.
Since the loss to Williams however, Swift Jarrett Hurd has linked up with a new lead trainer, Kay Koroma. Now, he feels that he is back on a beneficial professional path. In regards to Julian Williams, nothing has been put to bed. Thankfully for the fans, Hurd has every intention on facing J-Rock again; whether he has the belt or not.
“I was lost, I didn’t know what direction to go in, I didn’t have a gym home. Trying opportunities, we had a rematch clause set for December 14 and I couldn’t go into a fight in the condition that I was in. You know, I wasn’t training, I was still looking. I did find a coach at the time. It was harder for me not to take that fight then it ever was for me to take the rematch…
The best decision for me is to not go into the rematch that way, with a few months of training. And in the process, I also got a blessing. I got to link up with my coach Kay Koroma. You know, twelve years I’ve been training at home but now he’s finally giving me the experience to be able to train out of town…and getting away from everything and focusing strictly on boxing.”
By: Bakari Simpson
