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It was a long night of
fights Tuesday night at the Sands Casino Resort in
Bethlehem, PA. However, junior middleweight Julian Williams
did his part in shortening the night for and at the same
time propelled his career closer to a world title fight than
ever before.
Williams blasted out
Luciano Cuello, of Madrid, Spain, just 93 seconds into the
opening round of their scheduled ten-rounder. The WBC
Continental Americas 154-pound title bout was the evening’s
main event and was nationally televised by Fox Sports 1.
Williams drilled Cuello
with a sharp right hand early in the fight, and the ramrod
punch set the tone for the quick annihilation. After J-Rock
Williams landed a few more stiff rights, Cuello’s left eye
began to swell. A moment later, another right hand by
Williams staggered the Spaniard, and suddenly the end seemed
near.
Williams followed
Cuello to the ropes and fired away until referee Gary Rosato
jumped in to save Cuello. Luciano stayed on his feet
throughout, but was never in the fight. This was an
impressive blowout by Williams, 21-0-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC,
against perhaps, on paper, the toughest challenge of his
young career. With the abbreviated victory, Williams
defended his belt and pushed himself closer to a real
breakthrough fight.
Seated at ringside was
former junior middleweight champion Austin Trout, and
Williams gave him a look after destroying Cuello, 35-4, 17
KOs. Trout and Williams exchanged friendly callouts while
Julian’s fans chanted, “We want Trout!”
“I knew I was getting
to him early and I just stayed vicious,” Williams said after
the bout. “It was a straight right that I landed on him to
end things. I saw his left eye bubble up immediately.”
Williams’ performance
was a major statement to the boxing world that he is ready
for the top talent in the division.
“I may be the fastest
super welterweight in the world,” Williams said. “I’m
accurate enough to hit guys when I want to. I’ve fought
undefeated prospects and former champions. I’ll fight
anybody. I don’t hate Trout at all. He’s just higher ranked
than me and one of the guys in my way.”
The defeated Cuello was
accepting of his quick loss.
“I’ve fought some great
fighters in my career, and Williams is as strong as any of
them.”
FLORES TKO12 CUSULITO
In the TV opener, Mexican Moises Flores defended his Interim
WBA junior featherweight title by stopping Luis Cusulito of
Argentina, at 57 seconds of round 12. It was a grueling,
two-way battle for eleven rounds, before Flores, 24-0, 17
KOs, stepped on the gas in the final round. Flores caught
Cusulito, 21-2, 19 KOs, with a jarring right and then poured
it on until referee Benjy Esteves stopped the fight.
With the fight
winding down to the final bell, Flores was ahead on my
scorecard. Then just when it appeared the Mexican would win
on points, he landed the punch that drained Cusulito and put
him sudden danger. Flores seized the moment and closed the
show with the gritty KO to defend his title, in a truly
thrilling fight.
PLANT W8 FREEMAN
Super middleweight Caleb Plant remained undefeated, 10-0, 8
KOs, with a dominant eight-round points win over Jamar
Freeman, 13-5-2, 7 KOs. Plant knocked Freeman down in round
three, but wasn't able to repeat the feat or come very close
to a stoppage ever again during the contest. Instead he just
kept pressing the action and throwing punches in the
workmanlike win. The fight was televised between the other
two TV bouts.
ALVAREZ W6 QUINONES
In a see-sawing welterweight contest, Ken Alvarez, 7-2-2, 3
KOs, beat Sammy Quinones, 9-4, 4 KOs, by 6-round majority
decision. Alvarez started fast, but hit the canvas in round
three. The knockdown energized Quinones, and he went on to
make up lost ground and build a slight lead on my card.
However in the final round, Alvarez put a tiring Quinones
down twice with flurries to the body. The sudden surge
earned Alvarez the decision by scores of 58-53, 57-54 and
56-56. My card favored Alvarez 56-55.
GONGORA W6 GBENGA
In a 6-round super middleweight bout, Carlos Gongora, 3-0, 1
KO, put veteran Michael Gbenga, 20-23, 20 KO, on the canvas
twice in the sixth and final round, but could not finish him
off. Gongora went on to win the decision by three landslide
scores of 59-53.
NEWMAN TKO2 MAYEDO
In the first of two swing bouts that occurred after the main
event, cruiserweight Earl Newman, 7-0, 6 KOs, scored a
second round TKO over Leovsy Mayedo, 8-2, 5 KOs, in a
scheduled six rounder. Newman almost earned the stoppage in
the opening round, but Mayedo escaped the close call. In the
next round, Newman picked up where he had left off and
dropped his foe with a wide left hook. Mayedo got to his
feet by the count of nine, but referee Gary Rosato stopped
the fight at 2:09 of round two.
DAVIS WDQ6 SANCHEZ
In the walkout bout, middleweight Kyrone Davis, 9-0, 4 KOs,
won by disqualification over Alex Sanchez, 6-7-1, 2 KOs, at
1:41 of the sixth and final round. Davis dominated the
action throughout. Sanchez was penalized one point in round
two for pushing Davis to the canvas. In the final round,
after warnings for hitting on the break and more pushing,
referee Benjy Esteves ended the bout and called it a
disqualification victory for Davis. The time was 1:41 of the
sixth.
SERRANO W4 WISE
In early action, lightweight Ismael Serrano, 4-1, 1 KO,
defeated Seifullah Jihad Wise, 2-1, by four-round unanimous
decision. Wise lost a point for holding, and the official
scores were 40-35, 39-36 and 38-37, all for Serrano.
COLBERT W4 CARMONA
Featherweight Chris Colbert, 3-0, 2 KO, topped Jose Carmona,
0-2, with a one-sided unanimous four-round decision. All
three scores were 40-36.
HERNANDEZ W4 NUNO
In a bloody junior middleweight fight, Nicholas Hernandez,
2-1, overcame a cut left eye to score a four-round unanimous
decision over Rick Nuno, 2-1, 1 KO. Hernandez dropped Nuno
in round three and won by scores of 40-36 and 40-35 twice.
The Tuesday night
crowd for this Kings Promotions card was modest, but the
fans were fully engaged in the ten-bout show. |
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