Now You’ve Heard of Jarrett Hurd

It’s not that often a fighter has an Academy Award-winning actress clapping her hands in encouragement sitting in the corner of his dressing room as he works the pads. But that’s the rare treat Brooklynite Frank Galarza had at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, on Showtime’s ShoBox show Saturday night, when Susan Sarandon paid him a visit.

That was the highlight of Galarza’s night. He could have used a few hitting tips from a past Sarandon character, Annie Savoy, who Sarandon played in Bull Durham. Because Jarrett Hurd was the one who was swerving his hips into each shot and making Galarza pay, before referee Russell Mora mercifully stopped it at :59 of the sixth round.

Hurd (17-0, 11 KOs) helped himself tremendously, winning almost every round. He wasn’t supposed to win, let alone finish Galarza (17-1-2, 11 KOs). Yet “Swift” connected on 110-276 (36%) total punches, 73-163 (45%) and 27-113 jabs (24%). He used a counter right and lead right that Galarza couldn’t deal with. But it was a right uppercut that knocked down Galarza with :34 left in the fourth. Galarza was never able to mount any kind of offense, only able to connect on 6-68 (9%) jabs, 46-159 (29%) power shots and 52-227 (23%) total punches.

In the sixth, Hurd slammed a right into Galarza’s head and wobbled him. He turned his back to Hurd and Mora knew to step in and wave it over.

On the undercard, rising 6-foot-2 light heavyweight David Benavidez, just 18, made really quick work out of 31-year-old Felipe Romero, who took the fight on three weeks notice and had been stopped in his previous fight. Romero (15-10-1, 9 KOs) vowed he wouldn’t be stopped in the scheduled eight-rounder. So much for that promise. Benavidez, who turned pro at 16, gets great leverage on his punches and isn’t afraid to go to the body, hurt Romero with a straight left to the chin within the first minute of the fight. It didn’t take long after that. Another straight left led to the first knockdown. A left uppercut led to the second knockdown, and a left hook led to the third knockdown.

Granted, Benavidez (11-0, 10 KOs) needed just 120 seconds to devour a club fighter, he still looked pretty sharp and appears to have a bright future.

In a scheduled eight-round super middleweight bout, former Ukrainian Olympian Sergiy Derevyanchenko was very patient in breaking down Jessie Nicklow (25-7-3, 8 KOs). Derevyanchenko (7-0, 5 KOs) was incredibly dominant, landing 125 of 224 total punches (56%) and an amazing 89 of 124 power shots (72%). Derevyanchenko wasn’t working against much in Nicklow, who took the fight on three days notice and entered the fight having lost four of his last fights, but he is a rugged competitor who’s never been stopped that quickly. Referee Jay Nady pulled the plug at 2:18 of the third round, with Nicklow sagging against the roped under a barrage of Derevyanchenko punches.

In a fight buried on the undercard was former WBC heavyweight champ Bermane Stiverne, fighting for the first time in 10 months since his loss to Donte Wilder. Stiverne survived a mild first round scare, getting knocked down by veteran trialhorse Derric Rossy, who entered the fight a loser in four of his last six. Still, Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) managed to eke out a narrow 10-round, unanimous decision over Rossy (30-11, 14 KOs).

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.