By Keith Idec

Jermall Charlo considers experience against better opposition one of the advantages he owns over Julian Williams.

Houston’s Charlo stopped Cornelius Bundrage (34-6, 19 KOs, 1 NC) in the third round 15 months ago to win the IBF 154-pound championship. In his last bout, Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) beat former WBA super welterweight champion Austin Trout (30-3, 17 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder May 21 in Las Vegas.

Williams isn’t impressed as the 26-year-old junior middleweights head toward their 12-round fight for Charlo’s title Saturday night at USC’s Galen Center in Los Angeles (Showtime; 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).

“I mean, who are we talking about?,” Williams told BoxingScene.com. “Forty-one-year-old K-9 [Bundrage], who was coming off a year layoff and had been knocked out three or four times? Or are we talking about Austin Trout, who’s on the tail end of his career and [Charlo] probably could’ve lost the fight? Name somebody else [Charlo beat]. Michael Finney? Hector Munoz? Who are we talking about here? You know what I mean?

“I think a lot of people are underestimating my experience. I’ve got experience also. I’ve faced two undefeated guys, and that’s experience that he don’t have. He don’t know what it’s like to fight a guy who don’t know what it’s like to lose. You know what I mean? I think I’ve got a lot of edges, but I’ve got an edge in experience in this fight, also.”

Philadelphia’s Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC), the IBF’s mandatory challenger for Charlo’s title, referred to Eliezer Gonzalez (15-2, 10 KOs) and Hugo Centeno Jr. (24-1, 10 KOs, 1 NC), the two opponents he fought who were undefeated.

Williams won an eight-round unanimous decision against Gonzalez (80-72 on all three scorecards) in September 2014. Williams was winning, 30-27, on all three scorecards against Centeno when their fight was declared a no-contest, due to an accidental clash of heads in the fourth round that caused a cut around Centeno’s left eye and prevented him from continuing.

The best opponent Charlo has beaten, according to Williams, was Trout. Charlo won by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113, but Williams was expecting more from Charlo in that fight against the then-30-year-old southpaw.

“I didn’t think he lost,” Williams said of Charlo. “I just think it was a close fight. That fight could’ve been a draw. I thought it was a close fight. Everybody expected [Charlo] to wipe [Trout] up, and he didn’t do it.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.