PBC on CBS Results: Thurman Scrapes by with Controversial Decision, Hurd S
By: William Holmes
Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series was broadcast on CBS live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Two fights were televised tonight and featured a WBA World Welterweight Championship between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter as the main event of the night, and featured a co-main event between undefeated prospects Jarrett Hurd and Oscar Molina in the junior middleweight division.
Abner Mares was originally scheduled to fight in the co-main event of the evening, but had to pull out at the last minute due to an injury. The Hurd and Molina fight got bumped up to the co-main event as a result.
The undercard featured several highly touted prospects. Regis Prograis looked impressive in his fourth round stoppage of Luiz Florez and David Benavidez was dominant over Francy Ntetu, despite the fact fans disapproved of the stoppage.
Heather “The Heat” Hardy continued to grow her fan base with an exciting decision over Kirstie Simmons in the featherweight division.
The attendance for the fight was 12,718 and most of the seats were filled by the start of the first televised fight.
The first televised bout of the night was between Jarrett Hurd (17-0) and Oscar Molina (13-0-1) in the junior middleweight division.
Hurd’s size advantage was evident at the opening bell and he was able to use his size advantage to push Molina back with a steady jab in the opening round. He was able to stun Molina and knock him down with a good counter right uppercut, but Molina was able to beat the count, get back to his feet, and survive the round.
Hurd patiently picked Molina apart in the second and third rounds. Molina was able to land some decent shots on Hurd, but he lacked the power to hurt him.
Hurd picked up his activity in the fourth round and was able to deflect most of Molina’s shots. The fifth round featured some good exchanged and both boxers were able to land their shots, but Hurd was landing the harder shots. The action in a phone booth continued in the sixth round as both fighters seemed content with trading shots.
Both boxers dug in deep with their punches in the seventh round, but it was one of Molina’s best rounds of the night and his double left hook worked well for him, but Hurd was able to have a strong eighth round and re-establish control of the bout and had Molina hurt at the end of the round.
Molina needed a knockout by the final two rounds to win the fight, but Hurd dominated and had badly bruised the face of Molina. Hurd unleashed several combinations in the final round and had Molina hurt before the referee jumped in to save Molina from himself.
Jarrett Hurd impresses on national television and wins by TKO at 2:02 of the tenth round.
Afterward Hurd stated, “Molina is a great fighter. This is definitely a big win for my career. He was taking a lot of shots, but he knew how to survive.”
The main event of the night was for the WBA World Welterweight Championship and was between Keith Thurman (26-0) and Shawn Porter (26-1-1).
The crowd and energy was high for this bout and both boxers appeared to be jumpy in the opening round. Porter was reaching for his shots and at times overly aggressive in the first round, while Thurman was able to land some clean counter right crosses on Porter.
Porter had a strong second round and kept the fight in close and beat up Thurman by the ropes and was very effective with his body work. Both boxers threw bombs in the third round and neither established control in the first two minutes, but Thurman landed a bomb of a right hook near the end of the round that got the crowd on its feet.
Thurman had a very strong fourth round and had Porter on the defensive with his check left hook. They had a vicious exchange in the middle of the ring in the fourth, but Thurman was able to briefly buckle the knees of Porter during the exchange.
The fifth and sixth rounds were close and at times it looked like Porter was a bull and Thurman was the matador, but Porter was the aggressor in these rounds and was able to pound the body of Thurman whenever his back was against the ropes.
Porter had another strong round in the seventh round and was able to land hard right crosses and decent body shots. The eighth round was close and could have been scored either way, but Porter was able to land some thudding body shots while Porter was able to land hard check left hooks.
Porter had a very strong ninth round and was able to open up a cut near Thurman’s left eye and had him on wobbly legs by the ropes by the end of the round. The tenth round was action packed. Thurman was able to momentarily stumble the legs of Porter near the end of the round with a hard left hook, but Porter answered back with hard combinations of his own.
Thurman was able to land a huge left hook in the eleventh round that got the crowd on it’s feet, but he was fighting backwards most of the round and did not want to engage Porter in close range.
By the final round this bout could have been scored in either boxer’s favor, as for many rounds were close, but Porter appeared the land more punches in the last round while Thurman appeared to land the harder shots.
This fight screams for a rematch, but the judges scored it 115-113 on all three scorecards for Keith Thurman.
The crowd thought otherwise and booed, loudly, the judges decision.
Undercard Quick Results:
Heather Hardy (17-0) defeated Kirstie Simmons (8-2) by decision in the featherweight division with scores of 79-73, 78-74, and 78-74.
David Benavidez (15-0) defeated Francy Ntetu (16-1) by TKO in the light heavyweight division at 1:30 of the seventh round.
Jonathan Alonso (10-0) defeated Brian Jones (13-6) by decision in the junior welterweight division with scores of 60-54 on all three scorecards.
Regis Prograis (18-0) defeated Luis Florez (21-4) by TKO at 1:47 of the fourth round for the NABF Junior Welterweight TItle
Josue Vargas (5-0) defeated Ryan Picou (2-10-1) by decision in the junior welterweight division with scores of 40-36 on all three scorecards.
Nicklaus Flaz (3-0) wins by knockout at 1:13 of the first round over Mack Babb (1-7) in the junior middleweight division