By: Sean Crose
IBF and WBA junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd will defend his titles in Fairfax, Virginia this Saturday night when he faces Julian “J Rock” Williams in a card that will be aired live on Fox starting at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time. Hurd, 23-0, has taken to besting a who’s who of divisional notables in the past two and a half years. Erislandy Lara, AustinTrout, and Tony Harrison have all fallen victim in one form or another to the fighter known as “Swift.” In Williams, 26-1-1, Hurd will be facing another name of note.
A Philly fighter, William’s one loss was to Jermall Charlo in December of 2016. Since that time, he’s gone on to win four in a row, three within the distance. “I just dusted myself off,” Premiere Boxing Champions quotes William’s as saying of his lone loss. “It was just another fight to me.” Now, over two years since that single loss, Williams is getting another major title shot (the bout with Charlo was for the IBF junior middleweight championship). Hurd, however, intends to continue succeeding in the ring. “My confidence level is sky high,” the defending champion said on a recent conference call to promote this weekend’s fight. “I want to make it one sided all the way through.” The Hurd-Williams match is scheduled for 12 rounds.
The well regarded 23-0 junior middleweight Mario Barrios will also be on Saturday’s card. His opponent is the 20-1-0 Juan Jose Velasco, whose lone loss came at the heavy hands of Regis Prograis last summer in New Orleans. The bout, which is scheduled for 10 rounds, is expected to result in another win on Barrio’s resume. None of Barrio’s last seven opponents has managed to go the distance with the San Antonio, Texas native.
Another Jermall Charlo victim, Matvey Korobov, will be fighting Saturday night in Virginia, as well. The 28-2 Russian’s opponent will be the 18-1-1 Immanuwel Aleem. The fight is scheduled for 10 rounds in the middleweight realm. Korobov was on the rise, but was stopped by Andy Lee in 2014. He moved on to his ill-fated fight with Charlo late last year, but aims to prove that a loss or two doth not a career define. Aleem himself only has a single loss on his resume, a 2017 knockout defeat to Hugo Centeno Jr.
The entire card will go down live at the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax.