By Steve Kim
Coming off his fifth round stoppage loss at the hands of Jermall Charlo for the IBF 154-pound title on December 10th at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Julian Williams returns to the ring when he faces Joshua Conley on Friday night at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.
So the question is: are there more physical or psychological issues for Williams (22-1, 14 KO's) as he moves forward with his career?
"That's a good question," admitted his trainer, Stephen 'Breadman' Edwards. "Neither one of us has ever been through that before. So I think it was more of a mental thing but honestly, we've had some time off and you never know till you get in the ring but he didn't show any effects of it in the gym.
"He didn't take a beating - he took a big shot. So it was just more of ,'Man, I got caught with a shot I didn't see.' So it wasn't really something that we harped on. We actually had a really good training camp, I'm looking forward to it. From everything I know, I've seen guys take big shots and be OK. It's these long prolonged beatings that kind of screw you a career. So he was pretty good in camp."
Against, Charlo, it was a big right uppercut that hastened the demise of Williams in the fifth round. It will be interesting to see how Williams reacts to the first few punches from Conley, who has a mark of 14-1-1 (9 KO's).
When asked if he was any more nervous than usual, Edwards told BoxingScene.com - ''No, I'm not, he was actually sparring without headgear. We had some good guys in the gym. He was really sharp in camp and when he says it was a good shot that he never saw, I believe him."
Edwards says that unlike most other boxers, his doesn't necessarily need to fight on if he didn't need to. The trainer says he's more than comfortable with what he's seen in the gym.
"I mean, he has got some properties, a good amount of money saved up. I'd tell him to f*** this boxing sh*t, to be honest with you,"said Edwards."I care about the kid, I'm not going to lie to him and see him get hurt. So no, I'm fine, if anything the first couple of days we wanted to see how he looked. He was sharp and we have some high level guys in camp that was trying to take his head off and it was the same old stuff. He hasn't lost anything."
Williams-Conley is the semi-main on Bounce TV, which features the IBF lightweight title fight between Robert Easter and Denis Shafikov as the main event.''
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.