Jason Welborn lands huge fight with unified World super-welterweight champion Jarrett Hurd
Jarrett Hurd (22-0, 15KOs) vs. Jason Welborn (24-6, 7KOs) has now been confirmed for December 1 in Los Angeles on the Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury undercard.
Former British middleweight champion Welborn will challenge the American for his IBF, IBO and WBA 'Super' super-welterweight titles.
Maryand's Hurd comes into the fight recovering from a shoulder injury having recently received surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff triggered before and during his fight with WBA Super World super-welterweight champion Erislandy Lara last April.
It’s not yet confirmed if Hurd’s WBA 'Super', IBF and IBO super-welterweight titles will be on the line against Welborn, who has won his last five fights at middleweight, most notably defeating local rival Tommy Langford twice for the British title, which he has now vacated. It took three attempts at the Lonsdale belt at three different weights, losing in the mid-rounds to Frankie Gavin at welterweight and Liam Smith at super-welterweight, before Welborn managed to achieve his dream of becoming British champion The first fight with Langford, back in May, was a non-televised small hall show that ended up beating world title fights to win 'Contest of the Year Award 2018' by the BBBofC. Their rematch four months later in September was on the undercard of Amir Khan vs Samuel Varga at the Birmingham Area, live on Sky Sports, and ended up being an ever better battle than the first meeting. Both times Welborn snatched victory by a single point, although most spectators saw Langford winning the majority of the rounds but crucial knockdowns sealed his fate in both bouts.
Although the 32-year-old from the West Midlands is enjoying an incredible winning streak at 160lbs, Hurd is arguably the best fighter in the world at 154lbs and can win world titles whilst nursing injuries, so the contest has been slammed by many fight fans as a total mis-match.
Hurd is expected by many to use Welborn as a tune-up after his shoulder operation to then go on to face WBC super-welterweight champion Jermell Charlo (31-0, 15 KOs) in a unification fight in 2019.
Confirmed undercard so far:
Luis Ortiz vs. Travis Kauffman
Jarrett Hurd vs. Jason Welborn
Joe Joyce vs. Joe Hanks
Isaac Lowe vs. Cristian Palma
Chris Arreola vs. TBA