Josesito Lopez dominated and then stopped Francisco Santana in the 10th and final round Saturday.
Josesito Lopez demonstrated again on Saturday that he’s a viable opponent for any an elite welterweight.
Lopez gave tough, but overmatched Francisco Santana a beating before the fight was finally stopped in the 10th and final round on the Errol Spence Jr.-Danny Garcia card at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Lopez (38-8, 21 KOs) forced Santana (25-9-1, 12 KOs) to the canvas with a body shot in the first round and never stopped dishing out punishment until referee Neal Young finally waved off the fight.
Santana, 34, is only 3-6 in his last nine fights but had been stopped only once, 11 years ago. And he was tough in this one, enduring the punishment and fighting back for most of nine-plus rounds.
[lawrence-related id=16116]
He went down a second time with about 30 seconds remaining in Round 9, the result of a right to the head. He got up and survived the round but wobbled back to this corner. The fight could’ve – should’ve? – but stopped at that point but it went on.
In the 10th, he took a knee again after taking a left to the face, somehow got up, then went down one final time under the weight of a flurry of shots. At that point, Young had seen enough and stopped the fight.
The official time was 1:22 of the round.
Lopez, 36, has looked particularly sharp since 2018 when he easily outpointed then-unbeaten Miguel Cruz. He then gave Keith Thurman all he could handle in a competitive loss. And, in his most-recent fight, he stopped John Molina Jr. in eight rounds more than a year ago.
He’s a potential opponent for any top 147-pounder looking for a legitimate challenge.
Josesito Lopez dominated and then stopped Francisco Santana in the 10th and final round Saturday.
Josesito Lopez demonstrated again on Saturday that he’s a viable opponent for any an elite welterweight.
Lopez gave tough, but overmatched Francisco Santana a beating before the fight was finally stopped in the 10th and final round on the Errol Spence Jr.-Danny Garcia card at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Lopez (38-8, 21 KOs) forced Santana (25-9-1, 12 KOs) to the canvas with a body shot in the first round and never stopped dishing out punishment until referee Neal Young finally waved off the fight.
Santana, 34, is only 3-6 in his last nine fights but had been stopped only once, 11 years ago. And he was tough in this one, enduring the punishment and fighting back for most of nine-plus rounds.
[lawrence-related id=16116]
He went down a second time with about 30 seconds remaining in Round 9, the result of a right to the head. He got up and survived the round but wobbled back to this corner. The fight could’ve – should’ve? – but stopped at that point but it went on.
In the 10th, he took a knee again after taking a left to the face, somehow got up, then went down one final time under the weight of a flurry of shots. At that point, Young had seen enough and stopped the fight.
The official time was 1:22 of the round.
Lopez, 36, has looked particularly sharp since 2018 when he easily outpointed then-unbeaten Miguel Cruz. He then gave Keith Thurman all he could handle in a competitive loss. And, in his most-recent fight, he stopped John Molina Jr. in eight rounds more than a year ago.
He’s a potential opponent for any top 147-pounder looking for a legitimate challenge.
Danny Garcia demonstrated on Saturday that he remains the clever boxer-puncher of old and a threat to Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence Jr.
GOOD
Danny Garcia didn’t get the knockout he wanted in front of what amounted to his hometown fans Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. And his opponent bit him on the shoulder. Other than that, he had a pretty good night.
Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) dominated tough, but overmatched Ivan Redkach en route to a one-sided decision. Just as important, he got in good work after a nine-month layoff. And just as important as that, he gained valuable experience against a capable left-handed fighter, which should help prepare him for what he hopes will come soon.
The goal is to get either Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence Jr. — both southpaws — into the ring in what would be Garcia’s first big fight since he lost a close decision to Shawn Porter in September 2018.
Garcia said immediately after the fight that he doesn’t have a preference – he even mentioned a few others he’d like to fight – but Pacquiao is the obvious prize given the amount of money to be made.
I don’t think Garcia gave a great performance on Saturday but he demonstrated that he remains the clever, resilient boxer-puncher that he has always been. And I believe that fighter would give either Pacquiao or Spence a great deal of trouble if they were to meet, especially Pacquiao.
I was as impressed as anyone with the Filipino icon’s performance against Keith Thurman in July but it’s clear he can fight only in spurts at 40-plus, which was enough against a rusty Thurman. And I’ll never be shocked at anything Pacquiao accomplishes. I just don’t think this version of Pacquiao matches up well with a talented, experienced counterpuncher like Garcia.
Spence? I would pick him to beat Garcia because I think he’s a better all-around fighter but I believe Garcia would push him.
All in all, I’m glad Garcia is back and in position to fight for a title again.
Danny Garcia (right) said he had to lose 25 pounds in camp to make weight for his fight with Ivan Redkach. AP Photo / Frank Franklin II
BAD
I was surprised when Garcia said he had to lose 25 pounds in camp for his fight against Redkach.
I’m not saying I had a good handle on Garcia’s habits between fights. I didn’t. I just would’ve thought of him as a professional who wouldn’t put himself in a position to have to lose that kind of weight, even after a long layoff.
He said he felt good, not great on Saturday. And he acknowledged that the weight loss might’ve slowed him down to some degree. It probably did.
The good news is that he recognizes where he went wrong and said after the fight that he won’t fall into that trap again, although time will tell whether he has truly learned a lesson.
“I promised myself that I’m going to stay in the gym now and stay in shape,” he said.
I don’t believe it’s realistic to expect the majority of professional fighters to develop the discipline and habits of such legendary fitness fanatics as Evander Holyfield and Bernard Hopkins. They’re freaks.
I do think it’s reasonable to expect fighters to be athletes year round. They should arrive at training camp in good shape so they can focus on strategy and other crucial fight-related factors, not weight loss.
Any fighter who has been through it will tell you that ballooning in weight between fights can adversely affect his performances and shorten his career.
Maybe this should be a mantra: Training begins the day after your most recent fight.
Jarrett Hurd (left) had reason to be pleased after his victory over Francisco Santana. Amanda Westcott / Showtime
WORSE
Those who were critical of Jarrett Hurd’s performance went a little too far.
The guy is with a new trainer. He’s trying to change his style to become a better fighter and extend his career, which is no easy task. That’s why his fight against Francisco Santana on the Garcia-Redkach card should be seen as only a first step in that direction.
I thought Hurd looked pretty good in some respects. He used his length well by jabbing consistently and following with plenty of hard, accurate power shots. He landed a healthy 47% of his power punches, according to CompuBox.
Hurd isn’t as gifted as Stephen Fulton, who also fought on the Garcia-Redkach card. He isn’t unusually quick or athletic. He’s a big, strong guy who made his name by overwhelming his opponents with physical pressure.
Now, after his limitations were exposed in a stunning loss to Julian Williams in May, he is trying to get better. He split with trainer Ernest Rodriguez and hired Kay Koroma, who he believes can help him evolve as a boxer.
I love the fact that Kormoa said he wouldn’t work Hurd if he insisted upon exercising a rematch clause in his contract with Williams, his way of saying “we have a lot of work to do.”
That work has begun. Hurd had the opportunity to show his progress on Saturday. He had reason to be pleased. He obviously wasn’t frustrated, as post-fight interviewer Jim Gray suggested.
“There was definitely no frustration in there,” Hurd said. “We didn’t want to go toe to toe and we didn’t want to make this a risky fight.”
Will Hurd become a great fighter? Probably not. Can he get better? I think so. Give him time.
Jarrett Hurd hired a new trainer and went back to the fundamentals after his unanimous-decision loss to Julian Williams in May.
The last time we saw Jarrett Hurd in the ring he was humbled.
Julian Williams, the superior, more-polished boxer, destroyed in one fight the perception that the then-unbeaten Hurd was a force of nature, a big, strong bruiser who tended to start slowly but whose opponents would eventually wilt under his relentless pressure.
Williams won a unanimous decision to take Hurd’s junior middleweight titles and send him back to the drawing board this past May.
That included a change of trainers, from longtime mentor Ernesto Rodriguez to Kay Koroma, with whom he’s worked in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Koroma is an assistant coach with the USA national boxing team. And while Hurd could’ve jumped back into the ring with Williams, he decided to take things more slowly.
Hurd (23-1, 16 KOs) will face veteran Francisco Santana (25-7-1, 12 KOs) on the Danny Garcia-Ivan Redkach card Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Showtime.
“I’m so focused on taking care of Francisco Santana,” Hurd said. “I can’t look past him. He’s a guy who comes forward. This is a fight where I want to see how things work out with my new trainer Kay Koroma, but Santana comes to fight just like Jeison Rosario did (in a victory over Williams). I have to be on my toes.”
Hurd acknowledges what seemed evident against Williams, that he relied too much on physical pressure and punch volume to win fights.
In retrospect, it’s easy to see that at some point he was bound to run into an exceptional, resourceful boxer who could withstand his physical strength and work rate and outpoint him. That’s what happened against Williams, who put Hurd down in Round 2 and won by scores of 116-111, 115-112, 115-112.
“People say this is the new Jarrett, but I feel like it’s the old me and I’m just getting back to it,” Hurd said. “I used my defense and my height against Frank Galarza [in 2015] and other earlier fights. But when I was training for Erislandy Lara [in 2018], I was developing this pressure style and we didn’t have enough of the fundamentals set behind it.
“I look back at my fights and it kind of scares me all the hits I was taking. I had back to back Fight of the Year battles. Those were back and forth fights. I don’t want those each and every year. I want to win in one-sided fashion.
“I was close to becoming undisputed champion at 154 pounds and that’s still a goal of mine. I want to accomplish that feat in this division before we move up. I know I had a bad night against Julian Williams, but it was just a small hiccup. I’m coming back for my number one spot.”
Koroma told the Premier Boxing Champions website that Hurd will be a better fighter because of his experience in the loss to Williams.
“I feel like he wasn’t fully prepared mentally,” Koroma said. “Mental preparation is a big thing. In this fight, he had to use his mind. It was hard for him to make the adjustments during the fight. And no offense to J-Rock; he came in there on his game. Everybody is always saying Jarrett comes from [behind] and wins in the later rounds. But a person can get in there with a game plan that says, ‘I don’t want to be the person Jarrett Hurd does that to.’
“I feel like the fight can only make Jarrett better because now he realizes he has to start faster, box more, stay off the ropes, let his hands go a little bit more. He has to be smart, he can’t be playing catch up.”
No surprise: Koroma and Hurd have focused on fundamentals in camp.
“We’ve been working on defense, so he can read when punches are coming,” Koroma said. “Being in the right position to get away from the punch but also be able to throw a counter. When to throw power, when to touch, when not to fight backwards, knowing where you are in the ring so all the judges can see you scoring.”
“Jarrett sparred right before we came to Colorado. This was the first time we left the gym to spar. I told him I wanted to see him use his jab and not go on the ropes. Jarrett did that, but also what happened was – being I didn’t fill his head up with a lot of other stuff – he started doing everything we worked on. He started countering his opponents, he didn’t throw power, he let his hands go, he slipped punches and stayed balanced. Jarrett was like, ‘I liked that.’”
Hurd gets it.
“We’ve worked a lot on fundamentals with my new trainer,” he said. “It’s not that we didn’t have them before, but we’ve focused on them much more. It’s not all about heart and will in a fight. Sometimes you have to get back to the basics.”
Jarrett Hurd, who lost his 154-pound titles to Julian Williams in May, is scheduled to face Francisco Santana in his first fight back.
Jarrett Hurd learned against Julian Williams in his last fight that he has room to grow as a boxer. His gym work since then confirmed it.
Hurd, who lost a wide decision and his 154-pound titles to Williams in May, is scheduled to face Francisco Santana in his first fight back on the Danny Garcia-Ivan Redkach card Jan. 25 at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn on Showtime.
Hurd had been scheduled to fight Williams in an immediate rematch but pulled out.
“This is my first time doing interviews since I fought Julian Williams,” Hurd said. “Last time I was up here I was an undefeated fighter and then I suffered my first loss. We had the rematch set up for this December, but with me going through a switch in trainers and still in the process of searching, I wasn’t in condition for it.
“It was the hardest thing possible to not take the rematch, much harder than taking it.”
Jarrett Hurd is determined to regain these belts, which he lost to Julian Williams in May. AP Photo / Patrick Semansky
Hurd (23-1, 16 KOs) decided to train for Santa (25-7-1, 12 KOs) in a secluded location, eliminating all distractions.
“I’ve been training in Colorado with Kay Koroma and getting away from everything,” he said. “We’re focused strictly on boxing. I cut the hair off, too, because I was just ready for a change. The work so far is showing me how much work I have left to do and how much room I have to grow.
“I will stay at 154-pounds and fight for my titles again. I’m not looking past Francisco Santana because he’s a great fighter. I’m working hard to get back to the old me.”
He continued: “This is the fighter who was put in front of me. He has the style that we were looking for with my having my first fight with my new trainer. I had some time out of a gym after the Williams fight but now we’re going strong toward January 25.”
Hurd had built the reputation of a physically imposing, particularly strong fighter who overwhelmed opponents with his might.
The loss to Williams, an excellent, resilient boxer, laid bare Hurd’s vulnerabilities. For once, he wasn’t able bully his opponent and didn’t have a Plan B. That allowed Williams to win convincingly.
“I would never say I overlooked Julian Williams,” Hurd said. “There’s no excuses. Julian was the better man that night. When I look back there were probably some things that could have affected me, but Julian deserved to win the fight.
“I don’t know if I’m a better fighter now, but the loss opened my eyes to some things. My new coach has really opened my eyes to some things that I need to work on. Using my jab more and my footwork specifically.”
Perhaps we’ll see the beginning of a new Hurd next month.
