Every boxer who makes the transformation from amateur to pro does so with the exact same game plan: win, win again and win some more.
Julian Williams, shown connecting against Joey Hernandez on April 4 in Quebec City, returns to the ring for the third time in 5 1/2 months when he faces Luciano Cuello on September 22.
It’s a game plan that’s easy to comprehend, but for the majority of fighters, impossible to execute.
Julian Williams is one of the rare exceptions. For five years, the matchmakers have been setting ’em up, and J Rock has been knocking ’em down, the only blemish to his record being a six-round draw in May 2011.
On September 22, Williams (20-0-1, 12 KOs) will try to add another victim to his résumé—and continue his ascent up the 154-pound rankings—when he takes on veteran Luciano Cuello (35-3, 17 KOs) in a Premier Boxing Champions card (Fox Sports 1, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT). The scheduled 10-round bout will take place at the Sands Bethlehem Events Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, not far from Williams’ home in Philadelphia.
Also on the card is a 12-round, 122-pound clash between unbeaten Moises Flores (23-0, 16 KOs) and Luis Emanuel Cusolito (21-1, 19 KOs).
“I’m excited to be headlining this show. It’s a good kind of pressure, and I’m ready for it,” Williams said. “I hope that my hometown of Philadelphia comes out to support me, because I plan on putting on an electric performance.”
Williams certainly has been electrifying crowds this year. On April 4—one day before his 25th birthday—he scored a shutout of Joey Hernandez in a 10-round unanimous decision in Quebec City. He followed that with a sixth-round technical knockout of Arman Ovsepyan on June 13 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Not only has Williams stopped six of his last eight opponents, but he hasn’t so much as lost a round on a single judges’ scorecard in any of those bouts—a run of dominance that dates to September 2013.
Williams, who will be fighting for the third time in the span of 5½ months, won’t exactly be facing a slouch in Cuello. The Argentinian native who fights out of Madrid began his career with 22 consecutive victories and is currently riding a three-fight winning streak. Most recently, the 31-year-old scored a unanimous decision against Rafael Chiruta on November 21.
Cuello is 9-1 in his last 10 fights going back to the start of 2011, the only misstep being a 10-round unanimous-decision loss to Willie Nelson in 2013.
“I am very pleased with this opportunity, and I plan on pulling off the upset,” Cuello said. “Williams is very talented, but he has never been in deep waters with someone like me. I will be too much for him.”
Naturally, Williams begs to differ: “I have a lot of respect for Cuello. But I haven't lost a round in eight fights, and I plan on keeping that going.”
Kicking off the Toe-to-Toe Tuesdays telecast will be the bout between Flores and Cusolito, who have combined for 44 professional victories—including 35 knockouts—in 45 fights.
Flores, 28, kept his perfect record intact and continued to inch closer to a title shot with his hard-fought, 12-round split-decision victory over Oscar Escandon in Carson, California, on April 18. It marked just the fourth time in his seven-year career that the Mexican fighter failed to win by stoppage or unanimous decision.
Cusolito comes into this bout off a second-round TKO of Sergio Carlos Santillan in March. The 27-year-old has won seven consecutive fights, the last five by TKO.
Of Cusolito’s 22 career fights, only two have gone the distance. That includes his only defeat: a fifth-round TKO against Maximiliano Luis Marquez in December 2012.
For complete coverage of Williams vs Cuello, visit our fight page.
