Bob Santos, trainer of middleweight Jeison “Banana” Rosario, believes his man deserved victory after having to settle for a split draw against Jarrett “Swift” Hurd at the ProBox TV Events Center on Wednesday night. In particular, Santos was aggrieved that Rosario was not credited with a knockdown when Hurd went through the ropes in the fifth round.
“I thought we definitely won the fight,” Santos told BoxingScene in the dressing room after the fight. “I thought it was a knockdown. Everybody clearly saw it was a knockdown. If they called it a knockdown then obviously we would have won the fight; even without it, I still thought we won the fight. I thought it was a good, solid fight. But Banana showed he’s back. And I’m very thrilled with him.”
After winning a junior middleweight belt by stopping Julian Williams in January 2020, Rosario’s career entered a sudden tailspin when he suffered stoppage losses to Jermell Charlo, Erickson Lubin, and Brian Mendoza. Santos, who was training Rosario (24-4-2, 18 KOs) for the first time, thought his performance against Hurd was enough to quell any naysayers who felt Rosario was no longer a genuine contender.
“Everybody thought he was done. They thought his career was over,” Santos said. “They thought he couldn’t take any punches anymore. I’m very happy he came to me, he entrusted himself to me and we got to work every day. And you know, I’m really happy with his performance. I don’t want to make excuses, but he did have a hurt hand going into the fight. I’m sure Hurd probably had something. People always have something. We still won the fight, in my opinion, and with a knock down 100 percent we won the fight. It Is what it is, but he showed he’s back, he’s right there, and he deserves a great opportunity.”
With the 160 pound division in a state of flux, Santos even believes his fighter has what it takes to capture another title.
“No doubt about it. He can be in contention with any of the middleweights. He showed tonight he could beat any middleweight,” Santos continued. “There’s no two ways about it. The middleweight division is not the deepest division in boxing. You don’t have a Canelo there or something like that. So I think everybody in that division is vulnerable, and he could beat anybody on any given night. There’s no two ways about it.”
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