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Julian Williams was a heavy favorite going into his Saturday night defense of the WBA and IBF titles against Jeison Rosario, but the Philly fighter fell at home in his first title defense, dropping a shocking fifth round TKO and losing his belts eight months after upsetting Jarrett Hurd to win them.
Williams (27-2-1, 16 KO) said after the fight that he’ll come back stronger:
I been here before I’ll bounce back even better... congrats to Rosario for putting on a great performance @PBConFOX @premierboxing
— JulianJrockWilliams (@Jrockboxing) January 19, 2020
At 29, it appeared as though “J Rock” might be just about ready to enter a strong prime run, but this is obviously an enormous setback. He remains a contender at 154 and says he plans to exercise his rematch clause and come back to face Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KO) again.
We’ll have to see what happens, though. He’s a strong guy mentally as best anyone can tell; after all, he DID bounce back nicely from a 2016 stoppage loss to Jermall Charlo, but it seems clear he doesn’t have the best punch resistance, either. Is he good enough to hang on at a top level for a long time, or will he just be capable enough to beat anyone in this division if the night goes well?