Super welterweight contender plans on bouncing back from his first career loss in a big way this Saturday night on the undercard of PBC on FOX.
Erickson Lubin’s last time in the ring is one he both vaguely recalls and won’t soon forget.
Fighting 13 days after his 22nd birthday on October 14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Lubin was pursuing his third-straight stoppage win and first world championship when WBC king Jermell Charlo’s pin-point right uppercut sent “The Hammer” crashing to the canvas.
“When I was on the floor, trying to get up, I wasn’t conscious, but I wasn’t feeling any pain. It was just a flash shot. To watch [replays of] that was disturbing,” said Lubin, who toppled to his right side, his left arm and leg flailing as referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight.
“The referee saw me fighting hard, and he discontinued the fight because he saw me struggling…fighting to get up. As he was walking me to my corner, I was like, ‘Oh my God, [expletive].’ I asked my coach, ‘What round was that?’ He was like, ‘Round 1’...That was heartbreaking to know that it was over.”
Lubin spent the next few months out of the limelight, spending time with his newborn son, Malachai, and chilling with close friends and relatives.
But after some time away from the gym, the Orlando, Florida native’s zeroed in toward re-establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with, determined “To knockout my next opponent” and “terrorize everybody at 154 pounds.”
“Once you lose in this sport, you don’t get the same respect and people seem to forget about you. It’s definitely time for me to get back out there,” Lubin said.
“Being the determined person that I am, I’m back and ready to regain that respect from my doubters and naysayers and to show I’m still one of the best fighters at 154 pounds. I’m definitely trying to make a statement. It’s definitely ‘Hammer Time’ once again.”
Lubin (18-1, 13 KOs) looks to rebound this Saturday night against Mexico’s Oscar Cortes (26-3, 14 KOs) in a 10-round undercard bout on the FOX-televised card (8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT) at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas—which features a 147-pound main event between veteran Josesito Lopez and unbeaten contender Miguel Cruz.
The 24-year-old Cortez won his first 21 fights, 11 by knockout, but is 5-3 with three stoppage victories in his past eight, being knocked out three times. Cortez lasted less than four rounds against Francis Lafreniere in his last fight in June, and has also been stopped in 73-seconds and within six rounds on two other occasions.
“ I’m back and ready to regain that respect from my doubters and naysayers and to show I’m still one of the best fighters at 154 pounds. I’m definitely trying to make a statement. It’s definitely ‘Hammer Time’ once again. ” 154-pound contender Erickson Lubin
“I don’t know much about Cortes, but I do know that I’ve matured a lot, inside and outside of the ring, and I'll be more of a savage since my last fight,” said Lubin, who is trained by Jason Galarza.
“Nothing’s really changed other than I’m more focused, mentally, than ever before. I’m prepared to go 10 rounds, but I plan on making short work of my opponent and to get him outta there.”
Lubin’s loss was part of a 154-pound championship tripleheader that included defenses by veteran southpaw Erislandy Lara and Jarrett Hurd. Lara earned his seventh title defense by unanimous decision over previously unbeaten 2012 U.S. Olympian Terrell Gausha, and Hurd’s initial defense was a 10th-round KO of left-handed former titleholder Austin Trout.
On April 7, Hurd scored a final-round knockdown during a 12-round split-decision victory over Lara, adding the Cuban’s WBA crown to the IBF title he earned in February by ninth-round TKO of Tony Harrison at Barclays.
Given Charlo’s scheduled third defense against Trout on June 9, Lubin is willing to chart a course that may involve navigating a list of opponents that could include former champions, title challengers and contenders such as Trout, Harrison, Ishe Smith, Julian Williams and Nathaniel Gallimore.
Harrison, for example, will be after his second straight victory in a clash with Smith on May 11. Williams has won three straight since a fifth-round stoppage loss to then-champion Jermall Charlo in December 2016, including consecutive unanimous and majority decisions over Smith and Gallimore in November and on April 7.
“Trout’s back fighting for a title right after his loss to Jarrett Hurd, and I could maybe see something like that happening for me since I definitely want a rematch with Charlo. Or after this fight, maybe I’ll be in with another contender or I’d like a fight to become a mandatory challenger to one of the titles,” Lubin said.
“However it goes, I’m ready to go to war with any of the other talented fighters within the division. People might be doubting me, thinking I shouldn’t take a rematch with Charlo or that another title fight is too soon for me, but I’m young, I have a long career ahead of me, I’m ready to work my way back in, and I do not plan on losing ever again.”
Take a closer look at Erickson Lubin, by checking out his fighter page.
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