Tag: Bakhram Murtazaliev

It’s not if Julian Williams will fight Jeison Rosario again, it’s when.

Williams recently decided not to exercise his contractual right to an immediate rematch with Rosario, the Dominican contender who stopped him in five rounds in a significant upset on Jan. 18. However, Stephen Edwards, the trainer of Williams, says they have every intention of fighting Rosario again. Just not next. They need time to heal and regroup.

“Julian just had surgery [to repair damaged skin around] both of his eyes last week,” Edwards told BoxingScene.com. “He can’t even spar until May or June. We wouldn’t be ready for a rematch in a reasonable period of time.”

In the fight, Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) opened up a large gash over Williams’ left eye, which immediately changed the tenor of the fight.

“It’s counterproductive to rush into a rematch without getting his eye fixed and his eye was a big reason he lost in the first place,” Edward said. “But Team Rosario has expressed to me personally that they are honorable and will give us the rematch very soon. Just not next because we won’t be ready.”

Sampson Lewkowicz, the promoter of Rosario, told Boxing Junkie that Rosario “100%” plans to give Williams a rematch whenever he is ready.

Edwards believes Williams (27-2-1, 16 KOs) should be ready for a tune-up fight by late summer.

“He should be ready to go by August or September,” he said.

Edwards does not know who the opponent will be yet. In the meantime, the trainers says Williams won’t be peddling any excuses.

“What I’ve learned is it’s no use talking about what went wrong publicly,” Edwards said. “It always sounds like an excuse and, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. The result is what matters.

“Julian just has to redeem himself. Jeison Rosario fought a great fight, and he got the win.”

 

Follow Sean Nam on Twitter @seanpasbon

The future appears to be wide open for Jeison Rosario.

Former junior middleweight titleholder Julian Williams is forgoing his contractual right to an immediate rematch against Rosario, the Dominican contender who scored a shocking stoppage of Williams on Jan. 18 in the latter’s inaugural title defense in his hometown of Philadelphia, multiple outlets have reported.

The reason? Williams (27-2-1, 16 KOs) needs to recover from surgery on the cut he suffered over his left eye in the Rosario fight. Provided Rosario is still a titleholder, Williams has every intention of pursuing a rematch later in the year, according to BoxingScene.com. The feeling apparently is mutual.

“When Williams wants the rematch, Rosario will give it to him, 100%,” Sampson Lewkowicz, Rosario’s promoter, told Boxing Junkie. “For now, Williams has a medical problem.”

That leaves Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs), who turns 25 in April, with a few options in a division teeming with intriguing possibilities. He could face his mandatory in Russian Bakhram Murtazaliev (17-0, 13 KOs). Or, more compellingly, he could head straight into a unification against fellow titleholder Jermell Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs), who revenged his disputed loss to Tony Harrison (28-3, 21 KOs) last December. Both Charlo and Rosario are aligned with Premier Boxing Champions, so that would be a relatively easy matchup to make.

Rosario’s upset of Williams was just another eye-opening outcome in the ultra competitive 154-pound division. Last year, Williams upset multiple-belt titleholder Jarrett Hurd (24-1, 16 KOs) in impressive fashion. All in all, the division has produced some of the most interesting story lines of any weight class.

As for Williams, he is staring down at yet another attempt at a comeback. He was knocked out by current middleweight titleholder Jermall Charlo (Jermell’s twin brother) in 2016 before making a statement against Hurd last year. Williams’ trainer Stephen Edwards has set the bar high for his charge the second time around. Shortly after the upset loss to Rosario, Edwards was adamant about getting revenge.

“[Williams] cannot go out on his career losing to that kid, I’m sorry,” Edwards said on the TalkBox Boxing Podcast. “[The loss to] Jermall Charlo, I can accept that a little bit. You know, that guy may go to the Hall of Fame, and we can say we fought him when Julian was a little young at the time and that he caught Julian with a great shot.

“This fight (against Rosario), I can’t stomach that. I’m serious. I just can’t.”

 

Follow Sean Nam on Twitter @seanpasbon