By Ryan Burton 

BoxingScene.com recently caught up with up and coming trainer Stephen "Breadman" Edwards who's growing stable is headlined by elite 154 pound prospect Julian "J Rock" Williams. The Philadelphia product faces veteran Joey Hernandez on April 4th on the first edition of the Premier Champions series on CBS.

BoxingScene: Let's get right to it. First off give us the keys to Julian's upcoming fight vs Joey Hernandez.

Edwards: The key is for Julian to show improvement from each fight. He has to establish control. Most importantly he has to be cold hearted towards Hernandez in the ring. He has to let him know he is there to be violent with him. Violent of course in a controlled manner. Hernandez is a solid guy. He's 24-2 for a reason. He has decent hand speed and decent movement. I actually think he's going to run when he gets hit so we are prepared to track him down. I was told he ran from k9 in their fight and the promoters were very displeased.

The one thing I noticed when I researched him is he's very dirty. He loses his cool often. He's had lots of points deducted in his career. I hope he realizes this is a big opportunity and he doesn't try to get disqualified on purpose after Julian puts the heat on him.  In his draw against Ed Paredes he had that fight won, and he threw Paredes to the floor and lost a point. The point cost him the victory. That tells me he doesn't have control of his emotions. You know Ryan this is a new era. Fighters find moral victories in doing stupid things. J Rock is prepared for everything.


BoxingScene: The fight is part of the PBC debut on CBS. How does it feel to be part of a fight on broadcast tv?

Edwards: It feels good when you mention it but honestly we approach every fight like it's life and death, because at this stage it is. Al Haymon has too many fighters to replace Julian and we understand that. It's a good pressure we put on ourselves. But yes we are happy to be a part of this movement, it's great for boxing. 


 BoxingScene: We have a big fight in Julian's division at the end of the month. How do you see the Vanes Martirosyan vs Jermell Charlo fight playing out?

Edwards: That's a big fight. That fight should be for a title. There was actually talks of us fighting Vanes and I accepted but I guess Jermell got the fight. I'm happy for Charlo. At first I thought it would be a 50/50 fight because Vanes has looked really good under Joe Goosen who I think is an excellent trainer.

But I heard he left Goosen. And in a fight like that with everything being so close an adjustment will be needed. I don't know who his new coach will be but I assume it will be tough because Goosen was taking him through the game plan in camp. So as of now I favor Jermell slightly. Ronnie Shields is an excellent coach.

Boxingscene: There have been talk that after this fight Julian will likely get a big fight. Austin Trout's name has been mentioned before. What information can you give us?

Edwards: We have to get by Joey Hernandez first. But actually Trout and Vanes have been brought up to me. I accepted both guys and I don't know what happened after that. Trout is an ex-world champion and he's been on a big stage. Maybe he doesn't feel J Rock is a worthy challenger and I understand that. But that just gives us more experience when and if we do fight him. Joey Hernandez is a southpaw so that will give us some of the look we need. 

We aren't  fixated on Julian fighting anyone in particular. Collectively as a team, we just want to be the undisputed and lineal champion at 154 pounds.  Whoever is in the way we are looking at as food. Whether it be Austin Trout or anyone else. Trout is not even the champion anymore so if we fight him we fight him and if we don't we don't.

Boxingscene: Barring any injuries, how many fights would you like to see Julian get this year?

Edwards: I've been told that he will fight 4 times this year. That's perfect for this stage of his career. I honestly think top level fighters don't improve enough in this era because they only fight twice a year. He fought 4 times in 2014 and 5 times in 2013 so we are looking to stay sharp and busy.

 BoxingScene: The 154 pound division is one of the deepest divisions yet one of the biggest names Erislandy Lara recently said that he would like to move up and fight Gennady Golovkin. GGG obviously fights on a different network than the networks where Haymon fighters fight. What do you make of him calling out the "boogeyman" of the middleweight division?

Edwards: I like the move. I respect GGG. He's a brutal fighter and yes he is the boogeyman. Middleweights barely mention his name. I'm glad Lara called him out because at the end of the day GGG is just a man.

You have to look at him in that light. There is a saying that goes, there has never been a horse that has never been rode, and there has never been a rider that has never been thrown. My boxers and I go by that motto.

Hopefully they make the fight and we can see if Lara really meant it but I like the move. I think Golovkin's team took him serious because they picked a slick southpaw in Willie Monroe to fight when they could have picked other fighters. That was smart because it gives them the look they will need if they fight Lara. I picked a lefty in Joey Hernandez just in case we bump with a southpaw in our division. Abel Sanchez was smart for doing that.

BoxingScene: Do you have a message for the fans? Any other fighters you are working with we should know about?

Williams: Just tune in and watch my guy do his thing April 4th. He's as ready as he's ever been. I'm also working with a 3x National Champion named Kyrone Davis who is undefeated. He fights at 160 pounds. He's 6-0 and by next year he should be making a move on TV also.

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