FightHype’s Hans Themistode recently caught up with jr. middleweight contender Erickson Lubin fresh off his knockout victory over Luis Arias.
“Feeling good, mate!” The fighter, known as ‘Hammer’ Lubin, jovially responds. Not a scratch on him. A week after the fight, he’s still radiant, still unstoppable.
A question hangs in the air: how did it all go? But Lubin has the answer already, dripping with a confidence as infectious as his smile, “I did what I had to do. Arias brought his best and I brought a little something to the table… and got the job done.”
But was it really just ‘a little something’? The laughter in his voice suggests otherwise. Had he expected to get Louis Arias out of there that soon? After all, Arias has taken some massive blows, and nobody’s managed to knock him out yet. Not Hurd. Not Danny Jacobs.
Lubin’s gaze hardens, the corners of his lips lifting. He explains, “I set that standard for myself. This fight… I was looking to dominate. If I couldn’t stop him, I was trying to make a statement through my performance.” Dominate he did, and he’s clearly overjoyed with the outcome.
But the lingering whispers in the wind can’t be ignored – some were speculating if Lubin would ever be the same after his fight against Fundora. Was it a relief proving them wrong, or did he know, with every fibre of his being, that he’d come out unscathed?
“Yeah, I knew it. I had good sparring in this camp. Bigger dudes, top-notch. It helped me, and I knew I’d be ready… I was going in there with a chip on my shoulder.“
Then came Carlos Adames vs JRock, a fight mired in controversy. Lubin’s take? “It was a good fight, but a bad stoppage. Julian was punching when the stoppage occurred… I think the ref should have let it continue.”
It wasn’t all that surprising when Lubin later expressed a desire to fight Carlos Adames on social media. Did he know he wanted the winner of the main event, or was it a spur-of-the-moment decision?
“I kind of knew it, especially with the Canelo and Charlo fight being made… I don’t really have time to just be waiting on Charlo to defend all his belts. I’m ready to get at it now.”
“I respect Charlo for moving up, taking that Canelo fight, but I wonder why he’s doing that like first fight at the weight class and not fighting in two and a half years.”
“The last few fights of Canelo that we’ve seen ain’t been the Canelo that we’re used to seeing in the dominant like the Canelo so it’s possible if Charlo comes on his A-game, he could pull that fight off.”
Carlos Adames is a formidable opponent, and Lubin knows it, but he doesn’t seem to fear him. When asked if he’s wary of Carlos’s punch power, Lubin only shrugs, “I feel like that ain’t no problem for me. Ain’t no problem. I’ll go in there fully prepared, and we can make it happen.”
Lubin’s readiness to dive into the deep end at 160 pounds, despite Carlos Adames being top three in the middleweight division, surprises many. Yet, he insists, “Middleweight’s open… It’s wide open.” Lubin doesn’t believe Carlos is the ‘boogeyman’ of the division. He sees a division ripe for the taking, with no names standing out. With Charlo moving up to 168 to fight Canelo, Lubin sees a perfect opportunity.
