In this social media interview with Ray Flores, former junior middleweight titleholder Julian Williams talks a bit about why he didn’t seek an immediate rematch with Jeison Rosario after losing his belt, and what he has planned next. Check out some excerpts below...
Williams on what’s next for him in his career:
“Well, the next step is to get back in the ring as soon as possible. I decided to go against the rematch clause because I needed to get surgery on my face because I had a lot of scar tissue under both eyes. So instead of jumping right back in there and possibly developing more scar tissue, I decided to go ahead and get the surgery...so I think I’ma take an interim fight and then I’ll be ready to fight the winner of, from what I hear, I think (Jeison) Rosario and Jermell (Charlo) is gonna unify, fight for the undisputed championship...I’m gonna get the winner of that fight.”
On what it was like to win the world title against Jarrett Hurd:
“It meant everything because, like I said, I been boxing since I was 12 years old and at the time I was 29. So that’s a lot of years of hard work and dedication and I just made my dreams come true. So that’s probably the best feeling I ever felt, besides having my two girls.”
On his relationship with trainer Stephen Edwards:
“We got a good relationship, you know what I mean? It’s almost like a big brother, little brother relationship for the past ten years. He showed me a lot of things that goes beyond boxing. He’s a good coach, works really hard. He’s very particular. He knows how to motivate me. He’s a good coach, he’s done a really good job.”
On what went wrong in his title loss to Jeison Rosario:
“I think it was definitely an early stoppage but I’m not one to complain. I don’t want to dig into what happened because to tell the truth, Ray, don’t nobody care. Nobody care what happened so it don’t matter. People only care about the ending results. History is not gonna say “Julian Williams lost the title to Jeison Rosario because X,Y, and Z.” So for me to put it out there, it don’t matter.
“I just want to get it back now, however way I can, just in get-back mode.”