Erickson Lubin blasts out Luis Arias in five in Minnesota
Junior middleweight contender Erickson ‘The Hammer’ Lubin 25-2 (18) dominated Luis Arias 20-4-1 (9) en route to a fifth-round knockout in their 10-round contest at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Saturday night.
The bout was the main support to the WBC interim middleweight title fight between Carlos Adames and Julian Williams.
Lubin was returning to the ring for the first time in 14 months following his ninth-round knockout loss to Sebastian Fundora. That fight saw Lubin climb off the canvas in the second round, floor the 6-foot-6 Fundora twice in the seventh before being succumbing in the ninth. Lubin was leading on two of the cards 85-84 and even 85-85 on the third when the bout was halted.
There were always going to be questions around how he would rebound from just his second pro loss – and first in six years – and what impact the lengthy layoff would have on him.
As it turned out, very little.
The 27-year-old southpaw from Kissimmee, Florida came to fight and Arias, 33, from Boca Raton in Florida, obliged him.
The problem for Arias was that he was simply outgunned by the smarter fighter with the heavier hands.
According to ComuBox statistics, the total punches thrown were close. But it was Lubin who was much more accurate, landing 33% of his jabs and 44% of his power punches.
A right hook from the lefty landed high on Arias’ head in the fifth frame and sent him to the canvas. He indicated to referee Zachary Young that it was a punch behind the ear, but the third man in the ring was having none of it. He picked up at the count five and by eight, Arias was still on the canvas.
Only after Young had tolled nine did Arias begin to get to his feet. It appeared to the naked eye that Arias marginally beat the 10 count, but referee Young waved off the contest.
Two of the judges had Lubin up at the time of the stoppage, while the third saw it even. Judge Ludy Webster saw it a cleansweep at 40-36, Scott Erickson had it 39-37, while Jerry Jakubco could split them at 38-38.
“I gotta go back and look at the tape,” the WBC number sixth ranked contender Lubin said after the fight.
“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’ve been in the gym since my Fundora loss. I matured more outside the ring. And, you know, I’m ready for them all.”
Lubin admitted he didn’t know if the fight should have been allowed to continue, but said the result would have been the same.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I know if they would have 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.”