Jermall Charlo vs Julian Williams Preview December 10th
Unbeaten Jermall Charlo of Richmond, Texas will be taking on undefeated Julian Williams of Philadelphia at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles, California this Saturday December 10th when he attempts to defend his IBF Junior Middleweight Championship. The 12-round bout can be seen live on Showtime in the U.S. Charlo last fought in May when he beat former world champion Austin Trout by unanimous decision. Williams last fought back on March 5th and stopped Marcello Matano in the seventh round. This is the third defense of the title for Charlo, which he won in September of last year when he stopped Cornelius Bundrage in the third round. Williams is the mandatory challenger in this fight.
Charlo vs Williams Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Julian Williams +100
- Jermall Charlo -120
My Pick
The 26-year-old Charlo enters the contest with a perfect record of 24-0 along with 18 Kos. He stands 6-feet-tall and has a reach of 73.5 inches. Charlo said he wants to be an active champion and he’s on quite a roll as he’s stopped 16 of his last 18 opponents. He has 106 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008 and as we know, he’s got quite a bit of power with a current knockout ratio of 75 per cent. However, it could be argued that he hasn’t faced an elite boxer other than Trout and Bundrage, who was 42 when Charlo beat him for the title. Charlo hasn’t exactly been clashing with top-notch boxers, but looked fast and powerful against Bundrage by dropping him four times.
The champion also displayed fine speed and boxing skills early on in his win over Trout, but his chin has yet to be tested. He’s a strong, offensive-minded boxer who would rather his fights didn’t reach the scorecards. Charlo’s only other notable win so far has been against Antwone Smith and although he’s now beaten a world champion and former world champion, he’s still not proven himself to the fans to be an elite boxer as of yet. He probably won’t change the fans’ opinion of him with a win over the relatively unknown Williams either.
The 26-year-old Williams has a near-perfect record of 22-0-1 with 14 Kos to his name. The draw was a six-round affair with Francisco Santana back in 2011. He also fought a no-contest with Hugo Centeno Jr. when the contest was halted in the fourth round due to an accidental head butt. Williams will have an inch disadvantage in both height and reach as he’s 5-feet-11-inches tall with a wingspan of 72.5 inches. He turned pro in 2010 and has 123 rounds of experience under his belt since then. Williams has decent power with a current knockout ratio of 58 per cent.
There aren’t too many familiar names on Williams’ opponent list up to now other than perhaps Centeno Jr., Joey Hernandez, Eliezer Gonzalez, Freddy Hernandez and Joachim Alcine. He’ll be stepping up in class against Williams and won’t go down without putting up a good effort and giving Charlo all he can handle.
Prediction…
Williams’ lack of quality opponents could hurt him here. He’ll need to have a solid chin and be prepared to handle Charlo’s power shots and boxing skills. Charlo isn’t the greatest world champion out there at the moment, but he should be able to handle Williams’ challenge.
A close fight, but Charlo should still be able to take it.
Play: Charlo -120 @ BetOnline.ag
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Jermall Charlo betting • Julian Williams betting