OXON HILL, Md. -- Life is good for unified junior middleweight world titleholder Jarrett Hurd, one of boxing's best and most exciting fighters.
Hurd, one of six active unified titleholders, has been enjoying himself since his epic victory against Erislandy Lara to unify a pair of 154-pound belts on April 7 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It was a hellacious battle and the front-runner for fight-of-the year honors.
It was competitive all the way but Hurd scored a knockdown in the final round, which turned out to be margin of victory in his split-decision win.
"It's been great," Hurd told ESPN during an interview last Saturday night when he attended the Gary Russell Jr.-Joseph Diaz Jr. featherweight world title fight at the MGM National Harbor, which is only a few minutes from Hurd's home. "Everyone has been calling me out. I'm No. 1 now (at junior middleweight) and life couldn't be any better.
"What we want is a fight with Kell Brook because we want a durable opponent, somebody who will be competitive and a fight with Kell Brook would be really competitive."Jarrett Hurd
"It may look like I took a lot of shots (from Lara) but I didn't take as much damage as it may seem. My opponents are the ones going to the hospital afterward."
Although many at ringside believed Hurd had already done enough to warrant a decision victory going into the 12th round, Hurd left nothing to chance.
"On fight night my trainer grabbed my face and said you are the unified champ, all you got to do is win this round, but the mentality I had I went out and tried to win the round (decisively) and got the knockdown, which I'm glad I did. Going back and watching the fight I can see the rounds were a little closer that I thought they were at the time."
Yes, it was a close fight, but Hurd said he has no interest in a rematch despite Lara pleading for one.
"I don't want a rematch," Hurd said. "I don't know how long I can hold the weight class. I'm trying to become undisputed champ and I feel like I just beat you so that's going backwards."
Hurd would love an opportunity to fight at the MGM National Harbor but he agrees that he has probably outgrown its theater, which holds only about 3,000.
"I've been asking (manager) Al (Haymon) to fight here at the MGM but he's telling me the venue's a little too small. I just want to fight on the East Coast so I can get my fans to come out," Hurd said. "I was at a point in time where I was just trying to be the main event in my area (before the Lara fight) and now I can't even fight in my area because it's too small."
What isn't small is the kind of fights Hurd (22-0, 15 KOs), 27, of Accokeek, Maryland, has put himself in position for with the rousing victory over Lara.
A week after the fight he was honored by Maryland's Prince George's County council member Mel Franklin during a ceremony celebrating the win. Soon, Hurd hopes to have his next fight squared away, which likely will take place in the fall.
Hurd was not shy about saying specifically who he wants to tangle with next.
"What we want is a fight with Kell Brook because we want a durable opponent, somebody who will be competitive and a fight with Kell Brook would be really competitive," Hurd said.
But Hurd is not interested in fighting Brook on his turf in England, where he is a big draw.
"I'm the champion. He would have to come to me," Hurd said.
The 32-year-old Brook (37-2, 26 KOs), a former welterweight world titleholder, has only lost to two of boxing's elite fighters. He suffered a fifth-round stoppage loss to Gennady Golovkin in a 2016 middleweight world title shot that Brook moved up two weight classes for and, in his next fight last May, Errol Spence Jr. stopped him in the 11th round to take his welterweight belt.
But Brook made a triumphant return on March 3 as he moved up to junior middleweight and impressively knocked out Sergey Rabchenko in the second round.
Brook will be back in action in July against an opponent to be determined, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn told ESPN. But after that, Hearn said Hurd could certainly be in the picture, though the biggest fight for Brook is the long-discussed showdown with British rival Amir Khan, who signed with Hearn in January with the obvious goal of finally making that fight happen.
"(A Hurd fight is) definitely a fight Kell is interested in and obviously with our U.S. deal we have the budget to make that fight on either side of the Atlantic," Hearn said, referring to his recently announced eight-year, $1 billion deal with the Perform Group's DAZN streaming sports service that will begin in September. "Kell will return end of July and then we are looking for the big one after that. Of course, the focus is Amir Khan but Kell wants to try and become a two-weight world champion, so all the titleholders are a target. Jarrett is a great fighter and him against Kell would be a fantastic fight for U.K. and U.S. fans."
Hurd knocked out Tony Harrison in the ninth round in February 2017 to win a vacant junior middleweight world title. In October, Hurd made his first title defense and knocked out former world titlist Austin Trout in the 10th round, becoming the first man to stop him. Then he scored the huge win against Lara.
If Hurd can't lure Brook into the ring in the fall, he said he would probably face one of his mandatory challengers, either Philadelphia's Julian "J Rock" Williams (25-1-1, 15 KOs), who secured the shot with a majority decision against Nathaniel Gallimore in a title elimination fight on the Hurd-Lara undercard, or Argentina's Brian Castano (15-0, 11 KOs), a secondary titleholder.
"Those are my mandatories and I can choose between them," Hurd said. "I'm not saying they're pushovers but I just feel like Kell Brook is a tougher fight. I like that fight. He has a big name also. But I also think Khan is an easier fight for him because Khan is really a 147-pounder and I'm a huge 154-pounder, but we'll see.
"Right now Kell Brook is kind of wanting the fight with Amir Khan so if he doesn't take the fight with me, I'll fight one of my mandatories or whoever."
There is also the prospect of a three-belt unification fight for Hurd against Jermell Charlo (30-0, 15 KOs), who first defends against Trout on June 9. Both fighters are interested in the match and it's a relatively easy fight to make given their ties to Haymon and Showtime.
"I've been calling it right so far in my career so this is what I feel: I feel like I'm gonna get the fight with Kell Brook somehow," Hurd said. "Then I'll eventually fight Jermell Charlo. After Jermell Charlo I may not get (a chance to fight for the) the WBO (title, which is held by Jaime Munguia). So I'm gonna move up and his brother (interim middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo) is going to want to call me out because I'll have beat his brother and I'll have to fight his brother."
So many plans, so many possibilities for Hurd. Like he said, life couldn't be any better.