Erickson Lubin impressively disproved Luis Arias’ contention that the junior middleweight contender is damaged goods.
Lubin, in his first fight in 14 months, became the first fighter to stop Arias after dropping Arias with just over a minute to go in the fifth round of their 10-round, 157-pound fight Saturday night at The Armory in Minneapolis. Arias clearly beat referee Zac Young’s count, yet Young still stopped their fight on the Carlos Adames-Julian Williams undercard.
Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs), of Orlando, Florida, was declared the winner of their “Showtime Championship Boxing” co-feature at 2:11 of the fifth round. Milwaukee’s Arias (20-4-1, 9 KOs, 1 NC) complained not only that he beat Young’s count, but that Lubin’s right hand illegally landed to the back of his head.
Nevertheless, Lubin, who entered the ring as an 8-1 favorite according to BetMGM Sportsbook, successfully returned from losing a brutal battle to then-unbeaten Sebastian Fundora by technical knockout in April 2022 in Las Vegas.
“I gotta go back and look at the tape,” Lubin told Showtime’s Jim Gray in the ring. “But I felt like I was landing my shots pretty well, landing my jab frequently. And, you know, he was just a lot slower than I was and I was able to see everything he had coming, so I felt good. I been in the gym since my Fundora loss. I matured more outside the ring. And, you know, I’m ready for them all.”
The skillful Lubin got up from a second-round knockdown, floored Fundora in the seventh round and was ahead in their unforgettable “Fight of the Year” candidate on two scorecards through nine rounds at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. His trainer, Kevin Cunningham, stopped their “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event before the 10th round began, though, because he feared Lubin would suffer permanent damage to his severely swollen face.
On Saturday night, Lubin landed a right hand to the side of Arias’ head that sent him to the canvas with 1:06 to go in the fifth round. A little less than 10 seconds later, Young questionably stopped their fight after Arias appeared to get up before Young counted to 10.
“I don’t know,” Lubin said regarding whether Arias should’ve been allowed to continue. “I don’t know. I know if they woulda let him keep fighting, I was gonna attack him. I was gonna try to get him out anyway. So, I knew he was hurt. I hurt him with a body shot early in the round and he started to slow down a little bit. And then the head shot just put him down.”
Young sternly warned Arias for hitting Lubin after he called for a break a little less than a minute into the fifth round. Young also warned Lubin for pushing Arias during that sequence.
Arias attempted to maul Lubin early in the fourth round. Lubin dealt well with Arias’ physicality and continued to out-land Arias in those three minutes.
A crisp right hook by Lubin stunned Arias with just over 40 seconds on the clock in the fourth round. Arias did, however, land a right to Lubin’s jaw with just under 15 seconds to go in the fourth round.
Lubin’s left wobbled Arias with 25 seconds to go in the third round. Lubin landed a right hook out of a clinch with just under 1:10 remaining in the third round.
Lubin boxed well throughout the second round, when he caught Arias with an array of punches and mostly competed at a favorable distance.
Lubin blasted Arias with a left uppercut 45 seconds into the second round. Lubin’s right hook knocked Arias off balance less than 20 seconds into the second round.
Arias nailed Lubin with a right hand up top, but Lubin came right back to hit him with a left to the body late in the first round.
Arias landed a right and Lubin landed a left almost simultaneously just after the halfway point of the first round. Lubin landed a straight left a little less than 50 seconds into their fight.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.