Luis Arias: Lubin Has Taken Some Beatings; His Chin Is Suspect; He Can’t Take A Punch

Luis Arias was ringside 15 months ago, cheering for Erickson Lubin to knock out Sebastian Fundora.

Arias considers Lubin a friend, thus it was tough for him to watch Lubin suffer such gruesome damage to his face during their unforgettable “Fight of the Year” candidate at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. As much as Arias was pulling for Lubin to defeat Fundora, Arias believes the punishment Lubin endured that night has diminished him entering their 10-round, 157-pound fight Saturday night at The Armory in Minneapolis (Showtime; 9 p.m. EDT; 6 p.m. PDT).

“He’s always been good, fast, explosive, but he’s taken some beatings,” Arias told krikya360.com. “His chin is suspect, you know? Everyone’s talking about it. I’m not the only one. We all know that he gets hurt a lot. And as good as you are, in this fight game, man, you gotta be able to take a punch. And he just can’t.”

Lubin got up from a second-round knockdown against Fundora to drop the 6-foot-6 southpaw during the seventh round. Fundora recovered, too, but Lubin led on two scorecards (85-84, 85-84, 85-85) when his trainer, Kevin Cunningham, stopped their bout after the ninth round because he was concerned Lubin would sustain permanent damage to his face if their 12-round bout continued.

“There’s gonna be a lotta questions going through that mind,” Arias said of Lubin. “That man’s human, so he got demons that I know he’s fighting and I’m not.”

Jeison Rosario previously hurt Lubin toward the end of their third round of their June 2021 bout, but Lubin came back to drop the former IBF/IBO/WBA 154-pound champ twice in the sixth round and stopped him at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Six bouts before Lubin beat Rosario, Jermell Charlo knocked out a then-unbeaten Lubin with one punch in the first round of their October 2017 title fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Cunningham has predicted, though, that Lubin (24-2, 17 KOs) will become the first fighter to stop Arias inside the distance in Lubin’s first fight since he lost to Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs).

“It’s crazy that Kevin could say that he’s gonna stop me,” said Arias, who was trained by Cunningham for three months in 2020. “Kevin knows what it is. He knows I’m a dog. I’ve been in there 12, 10 rounds with some big punchers, with some real heat. Your boy just got stopped by a twig, so it’s crazy. That’s how I know [Lubin] has demons and there’s thoughts that ain’t clicking over there.

“They doing and saying whatever to try to hype [Lubin] up. But I guess that’s what you gotta do when you have a damaged fighter. But keep it real. It would be different if everyone stops me. He stopped Rosario because everybody knocks him out. Ain’t nobody knock Luis Arias out. I seen the final bell in all my fights.”

Arias (20-3-1, 9 KOs, 1 NC) has been down in three of his professional fights – twice in a 10-round decision defeat to Luke Keeler in August 2019 and once apiece in the Hurd fight and his 12-round unanimous points loss to Daniel Jacobs in November 2017.

The 33-year-old Arias needs to beat another favored fighter to rejuvenate his career in the co-feature of Showtime’s three-fight telecast.

The Milwaukee native upset former 154-pound champ Jarrett Hurd by split decision in their 10-rounder two years ago on the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul undercard at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Arias failed to build on that momentum because he surprisingly lost his next fight to Vaughn Alexander, who entered the ring with a 15-6-1 record, but beat Arias by 10-round split decision on the Gervonta Davis-Isaac Cruz undercard in December 2021 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Caesars Sportsbook lists Lubin as an 8-1 favorite, but Hurd was favored by similar odds over Arias.

“We gonna find out on Saturday how that chin holding up,” Arias said. “I’m coming for an all-out war. I mean, you guys already know what type of fighter Luis Arias is. I’mma come fight. I’m well-trained, well-prepared and it’ll be a fun fight for as long as it lasts.”

Showtime will broadcast Lubin-Arias before its 12-round main event, in which the Dominican Republic’s Carlos Adames (22-1, 17 KOs) will defend his WBC interim middleweight title against Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (28-3-1, 16 KOs, 1 NC). Argentina’s Fernando Martinez (15-0, 8 KOs) will defend his IBF junior bantamweight title in the opener of Showtime’s tripleheader, a 12-round fight against the Philippines’ Jade Bornea (18-0, 12 KOs), Martinez’s mandatory challenger.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.