Highlights: Jarrett Hurd and Jeison Rosario fight to a split draw on ProBox

Jarrett Hurd may be kicking himself after giving away the final round, as he and Jeison Rosario split the three scorecards and exit with a draw

A well-matched ProBox main event between two former 154 lbs. champions wound up evenly split on the scorecards, with Jarrett Hurd and Jesion Rosario each claiming one close card in a split draw result.

Neither man looked like the world champion each was years ago, but both of them brought whatever they have left to this fight. Hurd (25-3-1, 17 KO) worked behind a probing left jab early, keeping himself on the outside and using his reach advantage. Hurd hasn’t turned himself into a defensive specialist, and his “Swift” nickname is far more ironic than descriptive at this point in his career, but he was much more disciplined in his approach and tighter with his guard than we’ve seen before.

Good action in the 5th, where Hurd slipped butt-first through the ropes, but did enough in the exchanges to nick the round on my unofficial card. Rosario (24-4-2, 18 KO) had an excellent 6th round, keeping himself in range and landing his best punches of the night. Hurd got back to the disciplined jab that generally resulted in his best success, but gave us some flashes of his old rumbling style in the 9th, hurting Rosario high and low.

Hurd may exit this one with serious regrets, as his corner’s advice had him fighting the 10th round as though he’d already won the fight and only needed to avoid a knockout. Unfortunately for him, giving that round away swung the outcome from a potential Hurd win to a draw, with official scores of 96-94 Hurd, 96-94 Rosario, and 95-95. Bad Left Hook’s unofficial scorecard agreed with the 96-94 Hurd judge, but the draw is a very fair result.

Michael Angeletti UD-10 Geraldo Valdez

Courageous effort from Geraldo Valdez, but Michael Angeletti claims the well-earned decision victory. Valdez (16-2, 11 KO) showed off some very quick hands, but couldn’t reliably get them through Angeletti’s guard.

Angeletti (12-0, 7 KO) struggled to manage distance and separation in the first half, but started finding his rhythm towards the end of the 6th, hurting Valdez badly to the body midway through the 8th. Angeletti couldn’t quite finish him then, or at the end of the 9th when Valdez was hurt low again. But, Angeletti did enough to win unanimously on wide cards, with official scores coming in at 97-93, 98-92, and 98-92.

Dominic Valle UD-8 Kevin Piedrahita

Kevin Piedrahita made a questionable pre-fight choice here, going with a bright red hair dye that started seeping down his face as he started sweating and getting hit. But, his fashion blunders didn’t compromise his ability to give ProBox regular Dominic Valle a tough, gritty challenge.

Piedrahita (9-3, 8 KO) had some nice moments, snapping Valle’s head back in the 2nd, bloodying his nose in the 4th, and hurting Valle a little at the close of the 7th. But Valle (10-0, 7 KO) looked the better man for most of it, and seemed to learn a few things about how to deal with a fighter smothering him like Piedrahita did tonight.

Ivan Dytchko TKO-2 Craig Lewis

Dytchko (14-0, 13 KO) scored a big knockdown in the 2nd round, and Lewis never really looked great after it. Lewis (15-8-1, 8 KO) kept losing his mouthpiece, which commentary explained was due to multiple missing teeth, and referee Gene Del Bianco warned him another loss would end the fight. Dytchko staggered Lewis immediately after the warning, and that was enough to prompt a very reasonable stoppage, despite the absence of another proper knockdown.

Tristan Gallichan SPLIT DRAW Renny Mastrapa