JULIAN WILLIAMS: "READY TO GET THAT WORLD TITLE...I'M DEFINITELY GOING TO GO SOME TIME IN FEBRUARY"
By
Percy Crawford | January 05, 2016
PC: You closed out last year very strong. What are the goals for this year pertaining to your career?
JW: I'm just looking to win a world title. That's what's next for me in my career. I done did everything else. I done beat everybody they put in front of me. I'm in the top 10 in all the sanctioning bodies; I'm just ready to get that world title.
PC: You took the tough road and fought some durable guys on your way up. I'm sure you wouldn't have had it any other way.
JW: Yeah man, I gained a lot of experience over the years fighting the guys I fought. I fought some real tough fights with those 50/50 guys coming up, so I'm happy where I stand right now with the guys that I have fought and the guys I have beaten.
PC: You want to be the first boxer and athlete to subject yourself to being tested for PEDs year round. Is this from paranoia of what you think other fighters are doing or do you just want to set the standard and steer the ship in the right direction, or both?
JW:
It's not from paranoia. I just want to set the standard and hopefully everybody will get on board. I just want to clean the sport up. That's what it is all about. I think the sport definitely has some people on PEDs and that's crazy to me. It's already bad enough that you have fighters getting their life changed in a bad way just from boxing and being in a regular fight. They had the kid that died in his pro debut from Detroit, you have the thing that happened with Prichard Colon, and all of the other stories that we don't hear about from guys with detached retinas and brain injuries. We don't hear about a lot of that stuff. And then you got guys that want to use PEDs and it's just making the sport worse because it's already dangerous, so they're making it more dangerous. So I just want to help clean the sport up. I can't do it by myself.
PC: Obviously something like this takes a lot of time and money. Is it still in the preliminary phase as far as getting this idea off of the ground and making it a reality?
JW: Yeah, we are in the preliminary phase, and like I said before, it's very expensive to do it. We are going to need a bunch of sponsors to help me foot the bill basically. I'm hoping somebody sees this and wants to help out and other fighters see this and want to come on board and make this a regular thing for all of the top 10 guys.
PC: For sure. What type of work rate are you looking to put in this year; the 3 to 4 fight range?
JW: I'm pretty sure my next fight is going to be an eliminator and then after that, I'm going to fight for the title, and then after I win the title I want to defend it at least once or twice before the year is out, so I say 3 or 4 fights. That's the goal.
PC: You guys are fans first. Anything in particular stand out to you from last year from the sport of boxing?
JW:
Man, I just think it was a really good year for boxing. A lot of fights got made. It was a good year for PBC in their first year. I was on it 2 times; well, I'm going to say 1 ½ because they only showed about 3 rounds of my first fight on there. But it was a big year for PBC and boxing in general. HBO had some good fights. Showtime put on some good fights. I think Deontay Wilder winning the title and becoming the first American heavyweight to bring the title back to the states in a long time. Boxing was good in '15 and I think it's headed in the right direction.
PC: I think the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight happening was a big deal no mater whether you thought the fight didn't live up to expectation or you thought it was too late; it was a big deal.
JW:
That was a hell of a fight. I mean, listen, I never thought that fight was going to be Hagler-Hearns in the first place. Floyd's not going to lay around and be in that type of fight. That's just not the type of guy he is. But I heard people say it was a letdown. It wasn't a letdown for me because I understand the sport. I understand the art of boxing. It was amazing to me. I was on the edge of my seat. The only thing that pissed me off was that I was at a fight party with a bunch of knuckleheads, who ain't know nothing about boxing, screaming and yelling and I just couldn't focus like I wanted to. I'll never do it again. I don't know why I did that, but that's just what happened.
But nevertheless, the fight was amazing. And how about this, it took boxing to a new light. How often do you see boxing being talked about on SportsCenter and ESPN like that? It's very few fights get talked about like that and that fight took boxing to a new level. It shattered all kinds of records, so I definitely think it was good for boxing. Forget the fight, forget the actual fight, but the event happening itself was great for the sport. Look at it like this, if an NBA player gets a $100 million contract, it's a 10-year contract. These dudes made that kind of money in 36 minutes. I'm happy for those guys, man, and they are paving the way for us and opening new doors that I didn't think could be open.
PC: Anything you looking forward to or hoping to see happen this year?
JW: Of course I could say I want judging and refereeing to be better, more so judging, but it's been bad decisions in boxing since the beginning of time. That's just a part of boxing, you know what I mean. I mean, look at the situation on HBO with Jason Sosa and Nicholas Walters. And how about this, Nicholas Walters was the A-side to that fight. I just think that bad decisions are just something that's going to happen. A lot of people don't know, but...let me see how I can put this, how I may look at a fight and how you look at a fight could be two completely different things. I may think the guy that's coming forward is winning and you might think the guy that's going backwards and circling around and boxing more is winning. It depends on what you like. By the way, I do think that was a terrible robbery and I'm actually cool with Sosa's trainer. He's a real good trainer out of Jersey. But I just call it how I see it and I thought Nicolas Walters won the fight, as did everyone else. They definitely have to do a better job with judging, so that's one thing I'm hoping to see cleaned up a little bit.
PC: You saw me going back and forth on Twitter with someone over this, but do you think the criticism PBC has faced this year is somewhat unwarranted being that it's their first year in existence and they had to see what worked and what didn't work?
JW:
Definitely! The thing with PBC is they are on a lot of different networks and every fight can't be Shawn Porter vs. Keith Thurman type of fights. That is almost impossible. How about this, HBO don't put on Fight of the Year or the most compelling match-ups every broadcast. Jason Sosa is a good fighter, don't get me wrong, but he's not known; he's not on nobody's pound-for-pound list. He's never been on TV before and he gets on HBO in his first TV fight. At least I have never seen him on TV before. He jumped right to HBO and gets to fight Nicholas Walters and he fought his ass off. He fought a really good fight. But if that fight was on PBC, it would have been like, "Ah, Nicholas Walters is fighting a fukking bum. Who the fukk is this guy?" I'm just using that as an example. You can't get just barnburners on paper every time out. And how about this, some of the fights that you didn't know was going to be barnburners turned out to be good fights. I don't give a fukk what nobody say bro, PBC did good this year. They had Thurman and Guerrero, they had Shawn and Broner, they had Dirrell and DeGale. That was a good ass fight, Dirrell and DeGale. On paper, that fight was really good and then the fight was really good. Peterson-Garcia, Quillin-Jacobs, they are just never going to be satisfied. I don't give a fukk what you do, if somebody want to hate you, they're going to hate you. Leo Santa Cruz and Mares, it's like, what the fukk? No matter how good you do, no matter how much you try to please the fans, they are going to find a way to hate you. You can't please everybody. These other promoters are suing Al for hundreds of millions of dollars and he's supposed to help put money in their pockets. Don't get me wrong, I think boxing would be better off if everybody dealt with each other, but at the end of the day, they are suing the shyt out of him, so why would he work with them?
PC: What's the gym work like for you right now? Are you in the gym or taking it easy for now?
JW: Nah, man, I actually been grinding because I was supposed to fight on January 16th. So I was in full blown camp mode, cutting weight and all that. They couldn't get an opponent solidified in time, but that's a different story for another day. It's just crazy right now. I'm definitely going to go some time in February is what I'm hearing. I just had to slow everything down a little bit and then I will pick everything back up. But I'm definitely in the gym. I was hiring and paying for sparring and everything when I thought I was going January 16th, but it's boxing man and it's all a part of the game.
PC: I've kind of had the privilege to watch you grow in this game and I look forward to seeing you continue to grow. Best of luck this year and keep me posted on your next move. Is there anything you want to say before I let you go?
JW: Nah man, I just want to appreciate you for always showing me love, man, giving me interviews and on social media. And I just want to let all of the fans know to follow me on Instagram and Twitter @Jrockboxing!
JULIAN WILLIAMS: "READY TO GET THAT WORLD TITLE...I'M DEFINITELY GOING TO GO SOME TIME IN FEBRUARY" || FIGHTHYPE.COM
I enjoyed Mayweather vs Pacquiao as well...Mayweather's performance was
to me, because he easily outclassed someone who was thought to be on his level or better by almost half the boxing community
What he said about PBC are points we've made (
@krackdagawd,
@ChocolateGiddyUp, and myself) over and over again, especially in comparision to HBO, TR, GBP, K2, or Main Events
