Julian Williams Gets His Wish: A Date with Jermall Charlo

Julian Williams vs Marcello Matano #WilliamsMatano WOW! pic.twitter.com/TnuTx8A9eq

— ZombieProphet (@ZProphet_MMA) March 6, 2016

BETHLEHEM, Penn., — This one went as it was supposed to go. Julian Williams took apart wandering Italian Marcello Matano as expected Saturday night, on Showtime from the Sands Casino, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to get what he’s wanted for some time, and that’s a date with IBF super welterweight world champion Jermall Charlo.

Aware Antoine Douglas was upset in an earlier bout, Williams (23-0-1, 14 KOs) stayed with his game plan, used distance well and stayed patient in systematically dismantling Matano (16-2, 5 KOs), who was fighting outside of Italy for the first time, stopping him at 2:24 of the seventh round.

The victory placed Williams in the No. 1 slot in the IBF, with the promise of taking on IBF 154-pound champ Jermall Charlo (23-0, 18 KOs) next.

“I should have probably went to the body a little sooner, and as soon as I went to the body, the fight was over,” Williams said. “Jermall can either fight me now or vacate. Jermall won’t say nothing. He should step up and fight me. We’re both in the prime of our careers. It’s about a legacy. Everyone else at 154 are a bunch of turkeys.

“The big thing was sticking to my game plan. I just had to go to the body. My corner got back in my head and I started going to the body and that changed everything. He surprised me a little bit by coming out after me. He wasn’t going to out box moving away from me, because he’s too small. I thought I would use my jab until he stepped in. I knew I would hurt him at some time, if I stayed focused and patient.”

In a scheduled 10-round middleweight bout, Tony “Super Bad” Harrison (23-1, 19 KOs) out slugged southpaw Fernando Guerrero (28-4, 20 KOs) in an action-packed six rounds. A damaging left hook spelled the end at 1:54 of the sixth round for Guerrero, who was knocked down three times, once in the first and twice in the sixth.

Though Harrison dominated the fight, he too had some rough moments. Guerrero rocked him in the fifth with a right hook, and it seemed as if Guerrero would climb back into the fight. But Harrison stomped out any thoughts of that in the sixth, with a devastating left hook that dropped Guerrero a second time.

Getting up on unsteady legs, referee Gary Rosato let them go a little more, and he quickly pulled the plug at 1:54 of the sixth when Guerrero crumbled to the canvas a third time.

Harrison landed 109 of 314 punched (35%) to Guerrero’s 51-188 (27%). Power shots was a key. Harrison nailed Guerrero with 57-146 power shots (39%) to Guerrero’s 33-89 (37%).

“I had a lot of animosity coming into this fight, people thought I couldn’t take a shot,” Harrison said. “I threw punches back. I came back stronger than him. I dominated the fight. My father (Ali Salaam) told me to use the left hook behind the straight right. The knockout would have come quicker, if I listened to my corner.

“I was backing him up. Southpaws fight with a difference stance. I was backing him up. My whole game plan was to catch and roll and I wanted to keep pushing him back. I kept discouraging him when he hit me with his best shot. I wanted to come to him. What’s not to like about me, I’m exciting. I kept hurting him with the straight right. The straight right hand was there all day, but I fell in love with it too much. If I threw a combination, it would have been over a lot quicker.”

On the undercard, middleweight Ievgen Khytrov (13-0, 11 KOs) won a 10-round unanimous decision over Kenneth McNeil (9-2, 6 KOs). Heavyweights Joey Dawejko (16-4-3, 9 KOs) and Ytalo Perea (6-2-1, 4 KOs) slugged away at each other for eight rounds to a split-draw. Super Middleweight Anthony Miller (3-1, 3 KOs) handed Terrance Williams (4-1, 1 KO) his first loss as a pro with a first-round TKO. Light Heavyweight Amir Shabazz (3-0, 1 KO) made easy work of Hakeem Atkinson (2-2, 1 KO) with a one-round TKO, and super Welterweight Chordale Booker made his debut with a second-round TKO over Anthony Allen (0-2).

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.