Jarrett Hurd simply came up against a better boxer in Luis Arias in his weekend defeat, believes Chris Algieri.
The American middleweight has recently switched coaches as he attempts to return to winning ways, but lost to Arias on a split decision as part of the Logan Paul v Floyd Mayweather undercard.
Former WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri was speaking to the DAZN Boxing Show, and he suggested that switching coaches was a sensible idea, with examples of similar approaches paying dividends for other photos.
“We’ve all heard the saying, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’” he began.
“I don't know if that's necessarily the case when it comes to fighters and boxing. Guys who are willing to put in the work and have the aptitude to make those adjustments, we’ve seen it happen over time.
“Arturo Gatti has had like three different styles over his career. Bernard Hoplins was a puncher and later on in his career was a stylist. Marco Antonio Barrera punched [Naseem] Hamed’s shoes off, Mexican style, and came out against a southpaw using his jab.”
Arias believes that Hurd had done nothing hugely wrong, but Arias had done enough of his own work.
“Hurd is a super-talented guy. Huge for the weight class, unified champ. Honestly, I know Luis Arias very well, I’ve sparred with the kid hundreds of rounds. I think he just ran into a really tough out, and the kid was super-prepared.”
The 37-year-old fighter believes that Hurd may need to adjust his fighting weight to ensure he has a chance to fight at his peak.
“He’d been out of the ring for a long time, he’d been out of action, you could see the rust and Arias is a hungry guy. He’d been in the gym since literally last year, in the best shape of his life,” he began.
“He was looking to come down to 154, this fight was at 160. I talk to Luis all the time, he’s a guy I’ve helped with his weight with for years and I’ve told him he needs to get down to 154 because he could be a real problem. I just think he ran into a really tough order that night.
“I would focus on the weight class. Let’s dial that in so we can be the best version of ourselves on fight night because we might not be seeing the best version of Jarrett Hurd in the ring because of some kind of out-of-the-ring weight struggles.
“We know he’s had problems in the past, maybe 160 is the place to be, maybe it's not. It’s one of those things you have to see from the inside. When it comes down to it, the best fighters in the world, they have good defences. The guys with the longest careers always have the best defences.”