Before he knew it, Travon Marshall was being viewed as the next-best junior middleweight prospect. Although he had just a few fights under his belt, his explosive punching power and deadly skills seemed to be legit. In addition to his abilities, fans loved to root him on.
On August 12th, the promising 22-year-old was given a homecoming bout against Gabriel Maestre. The goal was simple, get in, get out, and look good while scoring a knockout win.
Maestre wanted no parts of Marshall’s plan. The 36-year-old former Olympian ripped up the script and went on to violently stop his man in the second round.
Watching from his ringside seat, Jarrett Hurd was devastated. The former unified champ at 154 pounds merely wanted to enjoy a good night of fights. He also wanted Marshall, who grew up near his hometown, to have a spectacular showing. Things, however, went up in smoke.
Marshall (8-1, 7 KOs) will now spend the next few weeks figuring out what went wrong. For whatever reason, Maestre was the craftier, stronger, and just overall better fighter.
As Marshall continues to do a bit of soul-searching, Hurd is urging him to let it go. Having suffered a few defeats of his own before bouncing back, Hurd knows the exact thoughts that are running through his head. In his opinion, the best thing that Marshall can do is to throw on his protective headgear, boxing gloves, and trunks and live in the gym. In doing so, Marshall must keep an open mind and improve. Hurd, wholeheartedly, doesn’t believe that this minor setback will be the end for the talented prospect.
“That one hurt for me,” said a despondent Hurd to BoxingScene.com. “It happens to some of us. All he can do is hold his head high and bounce back. It’s always team Marshall with me. He’s still young. He got a lot of time. Just go to the gym and make some corrections and he should be back.”