Julian Williams: Being Underrated and Overlooked Ends Saturday

By Keith Idec, photo by Stephanie Trapp

Julian Williams looked directly at Jermall Charlo during a press conference Thursday in Los Angeles, where Williams delivered a message he doesn’t think Charlo will fully understand until they fight Saturday night.

Charlo subsequently turned to his trainer, Ronnie Shields, wearing a look of disbelief after Williams asked the IBF junior middleweight champion to make sure they give fight fans “the type of fight they want to see” at USC’s Galen Center.

Williams is a slight underdog as their 12-round fight for Charlo’s IBF junior middleweight title draws near. The undefeated contender from Philadelphia is more than confident, however, that he’ll change the public’s perception of him by knocking off Houston’s Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) in the second of three fights Showtime will air at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

“I wanna thank Jermall,” Williams said, “a true champion, for stepping up and taking the fight, a tough fight it’s gonna be. … I’m just excited about the fight, man. It’s a really, really, really good fight. On paper, it’s a 50-50 fight. I’ve been waiting a long, long time to prove to people what I can do. I think I’ve been underrated and overlooked a lot.

“But it don’t matter no more, because Saturday night it’s gonna be my time to shine. Like [promoter] Mr. [Richard] Schaefer said, I haven’t lost a round since I was 12-0. That says a lot. I don’t plan on losing no rounds on Saturday night, either.”

Stephen Edwards, Williams’ trainer, clarified that neither Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC) nor his team have any hard feelings for Charlo or his trainer, Ronnie Shields. Williams directed a lot of trash talk toward Charlo both before and after their IBF-mandated title fight was scheduled.

“For some reason, people think it’s bad blood [between Williams and Charlo],” Edwards said. “But it’s just a fight. You know, Julian just wants to fight. He wants to be a world champion and Jermall is in his way. There’s no bad blood on our part. It’s all business. But [whether] they think it’s bad blood or not, they’ve gotta fight Saturday night.

“But I wanna let [Shields and Jermall Charlo] know that I appreciate them. I appreciate Jermall for stepping up to the plate. And I’ve got a lot of respect for Ronnie Shields. And Saturday night, you guys are gonna see why this kid has been the best-kept secret in boxing.”

Showtime’s tripleheader will start with a replay of a heavyweight title fight that’ll match IBF title-holder Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) against Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs). The bout between England’s Joshua and Molina, of Weslaco, Texas, will air live on Showtime from Manchester, England, at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.

The “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event is another 12-rounder that’ll send Argentina’s Jesus Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs), the WBA world featherweight champion, against former three-division champion Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs), of Downey, California.

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