By David P. Greisman

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Jarrett Hurd’s opponent wasn’t a top junior middleweight, but Jo Jo Dan was a willing foe who gave Hurd another chance to showcase his talent while positioning himself as an up-and-coming 154-pounder in a young and talented division.

Hurd scored a sixth-round technical knockout, staying undefeated and adding a third straight victory in the spotlight. He took out Frank Galarza in six rounds on a November 2015 edition of “ShoBox.” He took out Oscar Molina in 10 rounds in June on the CBS undercard of Keith Thurman vs. Shawn Porter. And his victory over Dan came as the co-feature bout on the Spike TV undercard to Danny Garcia vs. Samuel Vargas.

Dan wasn’t the more physically gifted of the two, and so he tried to take the fight to Hurd in the first round. Hurd responded by throwing right hand leads and a counter or two at the man in front of him, as well as investing in body work.

They exchanged punches at a closer distance in the second, the taller Hurd shortening his shots to land well to the body and head, then opening up into combinations and single hooks that staggered Dan.

Hurd began to walk Dan down at the start of the third. The action soon settled back into close combat, where Dan found limited success with a pair of left hands. Hurd veered low with an illegal shot that dropped Dan to the canvas.

Dan came out aggressively in the fourth. Hurd weathered it and responded with an eye-catching left hook.  Dan had Hurd on the ropes again soon afterward, and this time Hurd landed shots in-between. Hurd took control of the action for the remainder of the round, landing uppercuts in close, scoring with a pull-counter right, digging to the body and loading up on some of those shots to try to take Dan’s resistance away.

Dan kept on coming, though he was more pesky than problematic. Hurd had the advantages in size, speed and power. He could handle all that Dan was doing and then score with fast and flush punches.

And then the fight came to an abrupt end. Hurd hurt Dan with a right hand. Dan continued to throw back, but his corner had seen enough, rising onto the apron to stop the fight one minute and eight seconds into the round.

Hurd, 26, of Accokeek, Maryland, is now 19-0 with 13 KOs. Dan, a 35-year-old originally from Romania and now fighting out of Montreal, is now 35-4 with 18 KOs.

This was Dan’s second fight at junior middleweight since being stopped in four rounds by welterweight titleholder Kell Brook in March 2015; the first came in September 2015 with a decision over Rafael Jackiewicz. Dan hadn’t fought in the 14 months since.