By Keith Idec
Julian Williams is looking forward to ruining Jarrett Hurd’s homecoming.
The challenger from Philadelphia is accustomed to fighting on the road. When he enters the ring Saturday night in Fairfax, Virginia, Williams won’t be the least bit bothered by boxing near Hurd’s hometown of Accokeek, Maryland.
FOX will televise Hurd-Williams as the 12-round main event of a three-bout broadcast from George Mason University’s EagleBank Arena, about 30 miles from Hurd’s hometown.
“I don’t really look too much into, you know, where we’re fighting at,” Williams said during a press conference Thursday night. “I’ve been fighting on the road my whole career. This isn’t the first time I fought in somebody’s backyard and I don’t know if it’s gonna be the last. As long as there’s a ring and there’s three judges and a referee, I don’t really care who’s watching. We can fight in the backyard and it’s gonna be the same result.”
The 29-year-old Williams’ past five fights have taken place in Los Angeles (two), Las Vegas (two) and Toledo, Ohio. He has boxed just twice in Philadelphia since he turned pro nine years ago, and not since September 2011.
The 28-year-old Hurd, meanwhile, is looking forward to boxing before his sizeable fan base in the Washington, D.C., area.
He hasn’t fought near his hometown since he became a 154-pound champion in February 2017. His last bout in his home area was a first-round knockout of Terry Cade, which occurred in November 2014 in Washington.
“This fight has actually been one of my better camps,” Hurd said, “because of having my hometown behind me, actually fueling me, caused me to push when I was in the gym because I know they’ll be in the crowd, watching me.”
Hurd (23-0, 16 KOs) is about a 6-1 favorite to defeat Williams (26-1-1, 16 KOs, 1 NC) in their fight for Hurd’s IBF, IBO and WBA titles.
FOX is set to broadcast two 10-rounders Saturday night as well (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
Mario Barrios (23-0, 15 KOs), a junior welterweight from San Antonio, and Argentina’s Juan Jose Velasco (20-1, 12 KOs) will meet in one of those fights. In the other encounter, Russia’s Matt Korobov (28-2, 14 KOs) and Immanuwel Aleem (18-1-1, 11 KOs), of Richmond, Virginia, will square off in a middleweight match.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
