by David P. Greisman
Ronnie Shields has been able to get a close look at Julian Williams during the junior middleweight’s rise from prospect to contender. Shields trains another top young 154-pounder — titleholder Jermall Charlo, who has shared a card with Williams three times in 2013 and once in 2014, Williams has also fought on the same shows as other boxers trained by Shields.
Now Shields will corner Charlo for his third title defense, which comes against Williams on Dec. 10 in Los Angeles.
“I think Julian is a really good, young fighter. They’re both young fighters. They’re both pretty skilled. I think it’s going to be a great fight,” Shields told BoxingScene.com “Julian always impressed me. He fought on a lot of cards with us coming up. He always comes in shape and ready to go. That’s one of the things that a lot of young fighters have to do when they want to get in position to fight for a world title.”
But it was hard for Shields to say whether Williams will be Charlo’s toughest fight yet.
“I don’t know, because Austin Trout was a really tough fight for us,” Shields said. “Austin Trout has so much experience. He’s been around a long time, and I thought Jermall did very well in that fight. I’ll let you know after this fight, though.”
Charlo is coming off a unanimous decision over Trout this past May in which the former titleholder put up a spirited effort but came up short.
“We knew Austin was a very smart fighter and a good fighter. Austin has been in the ring with so many great fighters,” Shields said. “You saw the experience that Austin brought to the table. But also you saw what Jermall was capable of doing. I think he really made an impression on a lot of people. He’s going to take the confidence from that and bring it into this fight.”
Charlo, 26, is 24-0 with 18 KOs. Williams, also 26, is 22-0-1 with 14 KOs. Shields, of course, believes Charlo has what it takes to get win 25 while giving Williams the first loss on his record.
“He’s just got to be himself. Jermall has always fought the type of fights the he trains for,” Shields said. “I put the game plan together, and all he does is follow the game plan. He’s not going to do anything different in this fight.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
