Julian Williams challenges Jermall Charlo to fight him

By Dan Ambrose: After defeating the much smaller, weaker and less skilled #6 IBF contender Macello Matana (16-2, 5 KOs) last night by an easy 7th round knockout, #5 IBF Julian Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs) called out IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (23-0, 18 KOs) to a fight.

Williams, who was soundly beaten by Errol Spence Jr. in the U.S Championships in the past, feels that he’s ready to take on the guy who is arguably the best fighter in the division in the 25-year-old Charlo. This is the harder punching brother, not Jermell Charlo. Jermall can really punch, and Williams wants a part of him.

Williams looked pretty mechanical last night in defeating the 5’8” Matana in a fight televised by Showtime Boxing from the Sands Bethlehem Event Center, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. The 29-year-old Matana, who comes from Italy, fought a stupid fight by staying on the outside against the taller 5’11” Williams. It was a really poorly thought out strategy by Matana, because if he had seen Williams’ loss to Spence, he would have noticed that he cannot handle pressure at all.

Williams can’t fight backing up, he can’t handle pressure and he has no inside game at all. That’s why Spence was able to dominate Williams despite being a little smaller than him. Williams has since filled out and looks to be a very, very big junior middleweight at this point, but he still has the same exact flaws that led to Spence beating him in the past. Matana just wasn’t smart enough to realize that he needed to back Williams up the entire fight rather than letting him fight on the outside where he had a huge reach advantage.

“Jermall has been watching my performances. Him and his brother know exactly who I am. He needs to fight or vacate now. He needs to step up, but he’s already laying his groundwork and making excuses,” said Williams. “Step up and fight me. It’s two of the best junior middleweights in the world. It’s about greatness. I want to be great. All of you turkeys at 154 pounds, let’s fight.”

I think it would be a really bad idea for Williams to tangle with Jermall Charlo. That’s a not a good match-up for Williams. Jermall is a much better puncher than Williams, and the better fighter and athlete in my view. Williams might stand a chance against Jermall’s lighter punching brother Jermell Charlo. He doesn’t have the same kind of power or talent as Jermall in view. I still see Williams losing Jermell as well.

I know Showtime is really high on Williams, but they need to step back, watch some of his past fights against the liked of Spence, and not how he cannot fight when pressured, backed up or on the inside. Williams is a knockout waiting to happen. I rate Williams behind both Charlo bothers, Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto, Liam Smith, Demetrius Andrade, Vanes Martirosyan and Cornelius Bundrage. I also think some of the other junior middleweights would give Williams a big run for his money like Austin Trout, Anthony Mundine, Erickson Lubin, Sergey Rabchenko and Javier Maciel.

I think Showtime needs to get a clue and abandon ship with Julian Williams sooner rather than later, because I think they’re going to have nothing to show for all the fights they’ve televised with him once he steps up and faces someone like Jermall Charlo or Lara. They need someone that can judge talent better because I wouldn’t have never bothered hyping Williams’ fights. Of course, I saw his loss to Spence, who was one of the last talented fighters that Williams has faced. He looked terrible in that fight, and he’s shown zero improvements since then. The only thing that’s changed is he’s faced 23 weak opponents since turning pro. Williams hasn’t faced anyone good, and his resume is totally inflated in my view.

Last night, Williams hurt Matana with a right hand in the 7th. He then flurried on him with hard but slow shots until referee Gary Rosato stepped in and halted the fight at 2:24 of the round. It wasn’t a big deal for Williams to beat Matana, because this is the same guy that was beaten in 2014 by little known Felice Moncelli (8-3-1) by a 9th round knockout. What was both surprising and disappointing was how the IBF had Matana ranked #6 with their organization. If they’re going to rank Matana at No.6, then they need to rank Moncelli (8-3-1) even higher because he beat Matana. It’s just sad ranking and it was a sad mismatch last night.