By Ryan Burton

Former super welterweight title challenger Julian "J Rock" Williams (26-1-1) returned to the ring on December 1st with a 2nd round stoppage of Francisco Javier Castro on the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury undercard.  In this Q&A William's trainer Stephen "Breadman" Edwards breakdown his fighter's performance, potential future opponents and the upcoming Jermell Charlo-Tony Harrison fight.

Stephen Edwards: Here is the thing. We were preparing for an eliminator.  The political stuff is out of our hands. We had a couple of opponents fall out but it's always good to go through a camp, make weight, and peak out. It is what it is. The guy wasn't a world beater. I am not going to make him out to be one. He had only been stopped twice. One time by Errol Spence. I think he went 5 or 6 rounds with him. Obviously there is always a competition factor with the top fighters. They want to do better than other guys so Julian was able to get him out of there in two. But honestly J Rock was supposed to stop that guy. He's a top class talent and that's what top class guys do, they get over matched opponents out of there. I was impressed with his calmness and preciseness. Not so much the result. Sometimes fighters get excited and look sloppy against over matched foes. He didn't. He was like a surgeon.

BoxingScene.com:  Where do you go from there? I know WBA/IBF/IBO champion Jarrett Hurd said that he doesn't want to go directly to a fight with WBC champ Jermell Charlo and has said that he wants a fight at home first. Are you in the mix for fighting either of those two?

Stephen Edwards: I would suppose we fight Hurd or Charlo next. Which one I don't know but I am supposing that we fight one of them next. We are #1 by both sanctioning bodies so it is just a matter of putting the fights together.

BoxingScene.com: What did you think of Hurd's performance which was his first after surgery.

 Stephen Edwards: He is a slow starter. He usually starts every fight like that. He doesn't really get warmed up until the 3rd or 4th round so that is just him. I didn't take too much from him. The guy was doing pretty good and catching him with some good shots but as soon as Hurd turned it up he got him out of him so it is really hard to tell. From what I saw the guy kind of leaned down a little bit. It was a good body shot but it didn't hit him in the liver or anything like that.

Hurd is a tremendous fighter. Some fighters just start a little bit slower until they start cooking. Most of his fights he starts a little bit slow and then he warms up and makes his adjustments and he goes to work so I don't take much from it. He is going to be a lot better if he fights somebody like Julian or even if he fights Jermell Charlo because with better competition his sense of awareness goes up. The guy he was fighting wasn't a threat so he was probably practicing and working on stuff.

BoxingScene.com: That being said you probably saw a couple of flaws and things you can take advantage of.

Stephen Edwards: Well Hurd gets hit but I don't like to knit pick fighters because sometimes their sum total outweighs their parts. He may ride and catch some of the punches people think are getting through because the punches don't seem to effect him. Hurd is a beast. He's well conditioned. He's very relaxed and he makes great adjustments. You are going to get hit if you attack and go for the kill. No fighter is perfect but I think he's really really good.

BoxingScene.com: What do you think of the Jermell Charlo versus Tony Harrison fight?

Stephen Edwards: I think that is a great match up this could be fight of the night. Jermell is an explosive puncher. His balance is a lot better than Harrison's.  Tony Harrison kind of slouches over a little bit and his posture is a little bit off when he gets fatigued. Jermell is a little bit better than him in the mid range and in close but I think Tony Harrison actually boxes better than Jermell and Jermell has lost rounds in the past to guys who have boxed him that Harrison is better than. I think Tony Harrison has a chance. But I don't know if I can pick him.

Jermell is an intense dude and he's very confident. Harrison is going to have to have a high IQ in order to defuse Jermell's intensity. Every fighter can't do that. He will have to know when to fight and score points and when to calm the fire fight down. He's also going to have to keep the fight in the center of the ring. He likes to counter punch off the ropes with a shoulder roll. It worked versus Ishe Smith but I'm not sure if it will work versus Jermell. I'm not saying Harrison can't do it but I haven't seen him do it yet. So therefore I can't pick him but I do think he's going to rumble and give a good account of himself.

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