By Michael Woods

WBA, IBF, IBO junior middleweight world champion Jarrett Hurd (22-0, 15 KOs) has emerged as one of the breakout stories of 2018, hasn’t he?

The soft spoken hitter from the Maryland region isn’t a shot talker, he just enters the ring thumping, and doesn’t let up.

We got into salivating mode thinking about some of the matches he could be engaging in, at the 154 pound region, and then, probably at 160. The salivation process was interrupted, a bit, by word coming out that he had injured a wing.

He hurt his shoulder before his last fight, a split decision over Cuban cutie Erislandy Lara, but fought through the injury. Then, that left shoulder needed tending to; so Hurd had surgery, in mid June, and is now in the process of rehabbing, getting his body right to fight again.

So, where does that process stand, I asked his trainer, Ernesto Rodriguez.

“Healing is coming along very good,” the trainer told BoxingScene.com.  “He is to return to the ring in November, no fixed date yet.”

And the foe…would Hurd go for someone not considered uppermost tier, being that he’s coming off an injury?

“Yes sir,” he said. “No excuses when we go for Charlo. Unification on the radar.”

And is he able to use that left arm now?

“Both arms in full effect,” Rodriguez said.  “Real challenge will be sparring which won’t happen just yet.”

So, I can start salivating again…Readers, who do you want to see the 27 year old with a 22-0 mark fight next?

Charlo is also likely to take another stay busy fight in the meantime. He saw action back in June with a twelve round majority decision win over former world champion Austin Trout. Hurd is the only man to stop Trout, in ten rounds, back in October of 2017.