By Joseph Santoliquito

The “new” Jarrett Hurd debuts with a win over Francisco Santana

Jarrett Hurd knew. He could hear it. The crowd let him know that they weren’t too crazy about this new version of “Swift.”

But Hurd (24-1, 17 KOs) couldn’t help but be pleased with the result.

Working under new trainer Kay Koroma, Hurd passed his first trial in this experiment of movement, using his jab and using distance with an easy 10-round victory at a 156-pound catchweight over Francisco Santana (25-9-1, 12 KOs).

It might not have been the most aesthetically pleasing type of banging Hurd’s fans have come accustomed to seeing, but Hurd seemed satisfied, fighting for the first time since last May, when he lost the WBA and IBF 154-pound belts.

“We came out here and did what we wanted to do,” Hurd said. “The crowd didn’t love it, but you gotta understand, I got the unanimous decision and I did what I wanted to do. There was definitely no frustration. We didn’t want to go toe to toe and we didn’t want to make this a risky fight.

“We’ve moved on from the Julian Williams fight. We came out here, we had a long lay-off and we got the job done.”

Hurd landed 233/684 total punches (34%) and 80/356 jabs (22%), to Santana’s 95/737 total and scant 5/219 jabs (2%).

The “old version” Hurd was bound to surface, which it did in the fifth, when he stood there with Santana in the middle of the ring and the two slugged it out. Hurd landed a right uppercut, jolting Santana’s head back.

In the seventh, the fighters were greeted with a smattering of boos as the round closed.

By then, it didn’t matter.

Hurd put the exclamation point on it with a right uppercut in the last 10 seconds of the 10th for the only knockdown of the fight.

“We want the belts. We want the best. I’m not exactly sure what’s going to be the next move, but we want the belts.”