NEW YORK – Jarrett Hurd promised he would retire if he didn’t defeat Johan Gonzalez on Saturday night.

The former unified junior middleweight kept that promise once Miguel Flores announced that he lost their competitive 10-round middleweight match by split decision on the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach undercard Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Judges Allen Nace (98-92) and Kevin Morgan (96-94) scored their fight for the hard-hitting Gonzalez, who rallied during the second half of their bout by continually catching the defensively deficient Hurd with right hands to the side of his head.

Judge Robin Taylor scored Hurd a 96-94 winner. That didn’t stop the Accokeek, Maryland native from telling Premier Boxing Champions’ Brian Campbell during his post-fight interview that he won’t box again.

“I’m a man of my word,” Hurd said. “This will be the last time y’all see me. … I thank each and every one of y’all for your support.”

Hurd’s heart, always one of his most obvious assets, enabled him to withstand Gonzalez’s hard right hands until the final bell. The 34-year-old Hurd’s lack of head movement has been a continuous concern over the past few years, however, and he appeared to realize there is no need to keep absorbing such punishment unnecessarily.

Hurd is 1-3-1 in his past five fights, including a 10th-round knockout loss to Armando Resendiz in March 2023. He lost the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO 154-pound championships to Philadelphia’s Julian Williams by split decision in one of the best action fights of 2019 nearly six years ago in Fairfax, Virginia.

A fatigued Hurd (25-4-1, 17 KOs), bloodied and battered, took a lot of damaging shots during the 10th round Saturday night. Gonzalez (36-4, 34 KOs) backed him into the ropes at one point in the final round and drilled him with rights to the side of his head.

A blatant head-butt by Gonzalez caused a break in the action with 1:11 to go in the seventh round. Fitch sternly warned Gonzalez for fouling Hurd, though he didn’t take a point away from him.

Gonzalez began to take control of the action before that seemingly intentional infraction. He hammered Hurd with right hands as the defenseless former champion retreated and failed to protect himself.

Hurd had success during the first five rounds. He just couldn’t hurt Gonzalez, which emboldened the pressure fighter to press the action and land right hands because Hurd didn’t keep his left hand held high enough.

David Whitmire wore down Angel Munoz to the body and landed plenty of head shots during their one-sided junior middleweight match.

Whitmire, of Washington, D.C., won by the identical score of 60-54 on each card to remain undefeated on the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach undercard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Whitmire (9-0, 6 KOs) was aggressive in the early rounds and moved Munoz backward with left hooks to the body and overhand rights to his head.

Munoz (7-1, 5 KOs), a southpaw from Fayetteville, North Carolina, never stopped trying to fight back. Whitmire mostly made him pay whenever Munoz opened up with his left hand, which prevented Munoz from gaining any momentum.

Whitmire drilled Munoz with a straight right several seconds after the midway mark of the sixth and final round. It seemed clear by then, though, that Munoz would make it to the final bell.

A game Munoz managed to land more punches in the fifth round, his best three minutes of their bout to that point. An active, accurate Whitmire kept Munoz on his back foot throughout a mostly one-sided fourth round.

Whitmire landed a left to Munoz’s body that made Munoz try to hold him toward the end of the second round. Whitmire previously controlled the action in the first round, when Munoz had difficulty getting inside on his right-handed opponent.

In the bout before Whitmire’s win, junior welterweight Deric Davis dropped Jamal Johnson twice en route to a first-round, technical-knockout victory.

Referee Ricky Gonzalez determined Johnson shouldn’t continue after he got up from the second knockdown. Their scheduled four-round bout was stopped just 1:56 into it.

Davis, of Fort Washington, Maryland, improved to 6-0 and recorded his sixth knockout. Baltimore’s Johnson slipped to 2-1.