By Ryan Burton
On Saturday night Julian Williams (24-1-1) and Nathaniel Gallimore (20-1-1) face each other in an IBF super welterweight eliminator on Saturday night. The bout will open up a Showtime triple header at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Erislandy Lara faces Jarrett Hurd in the main event in a WBA/IBF super welterweight unification tilt. IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Truax takes on James DeGale in a rematch of their December fight in the co-feature bout.
There has been a lot of trash talk directed towards Williams by the hard hitting Chicagoan Gallimore. Williams has taken it in stride and believes that the Jamaican is putting a lot of pressure on himself.
"Talk is talk and he is going to have to back that shit up in the ring. What is gonna happen when round 8 rolls and I am beating his ass and he hasn't knocked me out yet? I think he has backed himself into a mental corner. We will see on fight night," Williams told BoxingScene.com.
Williams is two fights removed from his only professional defeat which took place against unbeaten former champion Jermall Charlo in December, 2016 and has faced far superior fighters in his career than Gallimore. He believes that experience is one of the keys to coming out with the victory.
"We are about to get in there and see. I can do everything. I can go forward and go backwards. I can do everything. I think he is a solid fighter but like I said he hasn't fought anybody like me. The best he has fought is Justin Deloach and he is a good fighter but he is not like me. He fought another kid (Jeison) Rosario who was like 12-0. He has done good versus the level of competition he has fought but he hasn't fought nobody like me and I am going to show him that on Saturday," said Williams.
Gallimore went 4-0 with 4 knockouts in 2017 while Williams went 2-0 and outpointed Ishe Smith in his most recent ring appearance.
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