Jarrett Hurd could soon be defending his WBA junior middleweight title against the man he recently defeated to win the world title.
The World Boxing Association (WBA) has ordered Hurd, who is also the IBF champion at 154 pounds, to fight former champion Erislandy Lara, per a report from Boxing Scene. According to the report, the governing body ordered the two boxers to fight in a rematch and have been given 30 days to negotiate a fight or else the bout will go to purse bids.
Hurd defeated Lara by split decision in early April to unify the WBA and IBF junior middleweight titles on a Showtime telecast in Las Vegas. Thanks to a knockdown in the 12th round by Hurd, the undefeated champion got the win with 114-113 scores on two of the three scorecards while Lara was only ahead 114-113 on the remaining judge's scorecard.
In the report, it was also mentioned that Showtime was planning on having Hurd eventually fight WBC champion Jermell Charlo in a unification bout. Lara, Hurd and Charlo all fought on the same boxing card at the Barclays Center last year, with all three men picking up wins and publicly wanting to unify titles with the other two world champions.
Charlo is currently scheduled to defend his title against Austin Trout on June 9 on a Showtime-televised card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. That television card is headlined by the WBA featherweight title bout between Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares.
