WHO WON THE WEEKEND? Julian J-Rock Williams Gave Us What We Needed

By a certain age, you are well aware that it ain't just a song…you CAN'T always get what you want.

Sometimes, you get what you need, we are advised…but that certainty is faint reassurance if your run of luck has been woeful.

Boxing kinda sorta needed a win, needed the hype to translate from potential to realization on Saturday evening, in Fairfax, Virginia…and whaddya know, the fates came through. Or, more specifically, Julian “J-Rock” Williams and Jarrett Hurd did.

Fight of the Year leader in the BWAA club house, I dare say. J-Rock was expected by the “smarts” to give a good account of himself, but succumb to the brutish beefiness of Hurd…and he took the script and tore it up.

I will do a re-write, he said…and yep, we believed after that PBC main event played out.

Anyway, I did….What did the NYF squad say about Who Won the Weekend?

“It has to be Julian “J-Rock” Williams,” said Abe Gonzalez. “He literally fought the perfect fight against “Swift” Hurd. On that same note though, I have to say he shares the honors with his coach “Breadman” Edwards as he put together the best game plan possible knowing his fighter's left and right lateral limits so to speak. Boxing needed a fight that lived up to the hype and this certainly delivered with Williams coming out victoriously.”

Trainer and fighter show their exuberance and bond. Julian Williams and Stephen Edwards in Leo Wilson pic.

“We know this is J-Rock, for all of the obvious reasons, but I'm going with Keith “One-Time” Thurman,” said John Gatling. “Months after being defeated in victory over Josesito Lopez and somehow bottom barrelled at welterweight as the ultimate WBA champion, Thurman secured his superfight with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao. Almost winning the weekend by stealth, Thurman walks away the star of Premiere Boxing Champion's overall stellar weekend by getting a fight his own arch-nemesis, IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr, made an all out pitch for in Dallas on March 16. Now, the weekend of July 20 is Thurman's to lose.”

David Phillips? “Julian J-Rock Williams. I don't know how you pick anyone else. A great fight between two excellent fighters. Nearly every round competitive. Both fighters giving their best. After getting hammered by Charlo 2 1/2 years ago, this was full-on redemption. Williams exposed some of the holes in Hurds' game, but mostly, he just gutted it. Probably the best top tier fight of the year thus far.”

“Got to be J-Rock hasn’t it,” Chris Glover said. “What a performance. Game plan spot on and a class act in victory. His post fight display of class arguably won him more fans than his performance did! A top draw fighter, a classy human being who deserves all the credit he deserves. Congratulations to the IBF, IBO and WBA World Super Welterweight Champion – Julian Williams.”

“Julian “J-Rock” Williams won the weekend, in a performance that was injected with some sound strategy from Stephen ”Breadman” Edwards, which J-Rock took on board and put into practice with great effect,” said Robbi Paterson. “Going in, the defeated Jarrett Hurd had all the fanfare on his shoulders, and rightly so, as it was he, and not J-Rock, who had beaten the notables in Tony Harrison, Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara, with all three fights shelved under “fan-friendly.” The aftermath: Hurd said he wants to exercise the rematch clause. No tune-up fight in the interim—head first, straight into the deep end. But will he be able to keep his head above the water and not sink during the action next time to come out on top? Perhaps if he brings a newly structured approach. Because if he doesn’t, J-Rock could well drown him inside the distance. Good luck, Jarrett. You’ll need it.”

Williams and Edwards may have been the only two that TRULY believed that THIS could and would happen.

“Julian J-Rock Williams won the weekend, by proving to a lot of people that he is a very talented fighter and erasing the memory of the Charlo defeat,” said Johnny “Odds” Wilds.