By: Hans Themistode
The number six is a small figure, relatively speaking, but for Jr middleweight contender Julian Williams, it means everything right now.
Much like the rest of the world, the former Jr middleweight champion has spent much of his quarantine sequestered at home. The time off has allowed him to think over his career, and where he wants to spend the second half of it.
After years of facing the best at 154 pounds, the 30 year old Williams believes it’s time for a change.
“I’ve been fighting at this weight since I was 15,” said Williams to Ray Flores on a recent episode of Time Out. “I went to the Silver Gloves as a 15 year old and fought at 147, then when I came back I turned open class and I fought at 152. When I turned pro I fought at 154. I’ve been fighting between 147-154 my entire life so I think it’s becoming a bit much so I’m going up soon. I think I’ll have two more fights.”
Before Williams chucks up the peace sign to the Jr middleweight division, he still has championship thoughts on his mind.
In May of 2019, Williams completed a life long mission in becoming a world champion when he dethroned Jarrett Hurd in his home town of Fairfax Virginia. Unfortunately for Williams though, he was hit with Déjà vu as the unheralded Jeison Rosario came stomping into his Philadelphia backyard and ripped away the titles from him via fifth round stoppage.
Williams could have easily opted for an immediate rematch, but chose to take care of other business first. Still, the former champion not only intends to win his titles back, but he plans on picking up another in the process.
“I decided to go against exercising the rematch clause because I needed to get surgery on my face. I had a lot of scar tissue on my face. So instead of jumping back in there and possibly developing more scar tissue, I decided to go and get the surgery.”
“From what I hear, Rosario and Jermell are going to fight for the undisputed championship and I’m going to get the winner of that fight. In the meantime, I’m going to take an interim fight.”
While Williams twiddles his thumbs as he waits on the selection of his opponent, he already envisions what it would be like to fight inside of an empty arena once he does return. The worldwide pandemic caused by COVID-19 has forced fans to watch the sport on their television screens instead of the arena. But while throwing leather in an empty venue might be new to other fighters, Williams is used to it.
“I wasn’t a highly touted prospect coming out of the amateurs so I fought inside a lot of empty stadiums.”