By Dan Ambrose: Jeison Rosario put on an uppercut clinic on Saturday night in ripping the IBF/WBA light middleweight titles away from champion Julian Williams in beating him by a fifth round technical knockout.
Rosario, 24, hit Williams (27-2-1, 16 KOs) with a right hand that shook him to his boots in the 5th, and leaving him defenseless against a blizzard of followup shots from the Dominican challenger in their fight at the Liacouras Center, in Philadelphia.
“When I lost my last fight I said I wasn’t going to lose again until I am world champion,” Rosario said. “And I’ve done it.”
Williams went down, and got back up. Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) hit Williams with a right hand uppercut that caused him to fall into the ropes. Referee Benjy Esteves decided at that point he wasn’t going to let the match continue
Williams was cut from a jab over his left eye in round 2, and he seemed to be bothered with it. It bled a lot, and he looked in distress. However, Rosario’s pressure and power shots had a lot to do with that though, as he attacked constantly and put a lot of pressure on Williams.
The loss for Williams ends his short title reign as the IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion after just 8 months. Williams beat Jarrett Hurd by a 12 round unanimous decision last May. During the build up with the 30:1 underdog Rosario, Williams seemed relaxed and very confident.
The way he acted, he didn’t see the fringe contender Rosario as a threat to him. That’s sort of understandable though, because Rosario had lost to Nathaniel Gallimore, and he’d been held to a draw by Mark Anthony Hernandez.
J-Rock Williams wants rematch with Rosario
“It blurred my vision a little bit,” Williams said after the fight in discussing how his cut impacted his performance. “But that wasn’t the reason why. He was the better fighter tonight. I’m sorry I couldn’t get the win but I’ll be back. .We’ll see if we can get it real soon,” said Williams about a rematch.
It shouldn’t be hard to put a rematch together. Rosario’s promoter told Fighthype that they’ll give Williams a rematch.
Going into the 5th, the fight appeared to be even at 2-2. Despite being cut, Williams fought well enough to have it knotted up with Rosario. Williams landed a hard right hand to the head of Rosario during the fifth.
Moments later, Rosario connected with a right hand that hurt Williams. He was badly hurt to the point where he backed up against the ropes, and was nailed by a flurry of shots from Rosario. Williams got up, but was hit with an uppercut from Rosario that almost took his head off.
“I feel great. The sacrifice in camp was worth it. I thank Williams. I’m very happy,” said Rosario to Fightype after the fight. “I’m very happy with the results. I didn’t realize it in the ring. And I realized it 15 weeks ago when I took the fight,” said Rosario when asked when he realized he would win. I didn’t study his fight with Charlo, because he could have improved the mistakes he made in that fight,” said Rosario.
Jermell Charlo reacts to Rosario’s win over Williams
ON HOLD AGAIN.. LIONSONLY WANT ALL THE BELTS.. NO WAY EITHER ONE OF THESE 154 WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE THIS LION POWER..
— JERMELL CHARLO (@TwinCharlo) January 19, 2020