Lara vs. Hurd: Exciting fight with some phantom punches

In a fight that featured a deciding, thrilling twelfth round that went some way to washing away the bad taste of the preceding Truax-DeGale sleep-in, Jarret Hurd narrowly defeated Cuban Erislandy Lara in a fight that I had for the Cuban, 114-113.

Ronnie Shields – one of the best trainers in boxing, did a grave disservice to his fighter, Lara. I well remember Shields telling David Tua when fighting Lennox Lewis for all the marbles, “David you have to win the fight. He’s” (Lennox) “not going to hand the championship to you.”

You can’t offer more effective advice than that. Yet the present-day Shields only advice to Lara in the latter rounds was to throw the jab.

Shields simply had a bad day in the office at the worst possible time. Both he and Lara may want to strictly consider their next moves. True, Lara is an old pro with a Ph.D. in pugilism but then, why have a coach? For precisely such moments as when Hurd really was turning the fight, say from the eighth round on.

That’s when Shields should have earned his dough, that’s when Ronnie should have offered something more to his disoriented charge than, “pop the jab.”

Credit Hurd for hanging tough during the first half of a fight in which he did little but receive very sharp, straight rights. He is indeed a S-L-O-W starter and to have an extended career, some serious changes will have to be made in this regard.

Once again, Showtime’s Al Bernstein, a lover for three decades of body punches, as I love gin - screamed, yelled, informed, analyzed and explained…a ferocious, amazing body attack. Unfortunately, replays showed that, through round six, that attack was virtually non-existent.

While in later rounds Hurd did find the groove to the body, clearly it was his head shots that were a game changer. Too often the Hurd’s double left hooks to the body were mere slaps rather than the ‘pronated,’ kind, as Bernstein prefers them.