"When I say I'm not going to hold him back, of course I'm not going to hold him back because it's great when a fighter has confidence because the game is 75% mental. So he believes in himselfÂ…I've been told we getting a big fight in September, so we going to see who steps up to the plate. I personally would like to see him fight Jack Culcay for the WBA title, but you can't always get what you want," stated Stephen "Breadman" Edward, world-class trainer of jr. middleweight contender Julian Williams, who talked about his latest win, their future plans, and more. Check it out!
PC: I know you grade Julian out tough, but you had to be pleased with what you saw in his latest victory?
SE: Yeah man, he did his thing. I was real happy with it. I didn't get a chance to look at it until recently. It's different watching it there live with anxiety and coaching him as opposed to being able to relax and see the video. So he did a good job, man. He was real fast and sharp, as I knew he would be, and his jab was working real good. He could have put his punches together a little bit more, but overall, I give him a solid...on a scale of 1-10, I give him about an 8 or 8 ½. The crazy thing is, Perc, you guys haven't really seen the best of him yet. There are days I see him in the gym and I'm like, my goodness, if I ever see that in a fight. He looks like the second coming of a mixture of BHop and Terry Norris, man. I've seen some days where he was just on. But he did good. He did what he was supposed to do against that kind of guy.
PC: Do you think when his competition goes up, we will see that version you're talking about or was that just very good days?
SE: You know what? It's just like any other sport. Some days you can hit 10 3-pointers and some days you go out and you're 1 for 10. I'm just saying more or less, I have seen his potential and when he put fights together and sparring days together where he was just absolutely untouchable and looked phenomenal. He had a fight in which I was really pleased with him against a dude named Michael Medina. He fought him in Canada last year and he was on in that fight. This guy right here was pretty good, but he's supposed to do that with a guy like this. But he did his job because some guys struggle with guys like that. He's supposed to put a guy like that in the trunk, beat him all up, and win every round. My expectations of him is really high. When he fights better fighters, their actions are more predictable, so he's going to look better. When he gets in there with a better dude instead of a dude he can overwhelm, you guys are going to really see him look like a million bucks.
PC: Was there anything about Ovsepyan that surprised you during the course of the fight?
SE: No, I had him down pat, man. I know some people out in the gyms of LA and I had 3 fights of his and I got to see his fight with Brad Solomon. I had him down pat. I knew the things that he was going to do. I knew what he led with. I knew what he countered with. Everything went pretty much as planned and Julian carried it out exactly the way he was supposed to. I wanted him to establish his jab and just let things flow instinctively without trying to press too hard, and he did that. He did a good job. I was pleased with his performance.
PC: You kept yelling "be first" to Julian during the fight. I spoke with Julian and he said you guys didn't want to give this guy any confidence at any point of the fight.
SE: He is a smaller guy, Perc, and I noticed that if you be first, he would kind of go in that shell-up defense with both of his hands up and kind of like shell-up. He did that every time I watched him on tape. But if you let him lead, he will step to you and kind of get off a little bit. And he could actually punch a little bit. He was a decent puncher, so it was real important for our game plan for Julian to be first because when he is first, Ovsepyan is really not a counter puncher. That was one of the key components to our game plan was to be first because he don't counter punch. So when you get your hands on him, he kind of waits for you to finish punching and then he'll punch. But with Julian having the reach and speed advantage, we get off first and then step to a clear spot, then he's not ever going to have nothing to hit.
PC: As a trainer, when you guy have his opponent in trouble during the 1st round or early in the fight, how important is it for you to settle him down when he gets back to the corner once the knockout or stoppage doesn't happen?
SE: It's always good to win a round big or score a knockdown, but sometimes when you do that, you could kind of look for that same shot all night long. I taught Julian to never force a knockout; just let it manifest and bring it along with the work that you are doing. It just doesn't work for him to force knockouts. Very few guys could force knockouts. Mike Tyson could kind of force a fight, Gerald McClellan could force a fight, and a guy like Tommy Hearns could force a fight. Julian can, he has a couple of 24-25 second knockouts, but at the top level, I don't want him doing that. He's had a couple of little injuries that I don't want to speak on publicly, from forcing things. I like his knockout to come more or less from him breaking a guy down or him catching a guy real clean and then take them out. If he forces it, it's just not something that works for him, so you just gotta know your fighter. Unless he is down on the scorecards, I'm not going to have him forcing anything.
PC: Julian is getting a little more vocal about the guys he wants to fight and you are okay with that. You said you're not going to be the one to hold him back. Do you feel it's almost necessary for him to be that way at this point?
SE: I have no problem with it, Perc. He's not as quiet as everybody thinks he is; he just hasn't had the platform where people could see his personality. He's not the kind of kid that I would call quiet, but he's a little reserved if he don't know people. He's not quiet though, you know what I mean. When a fighter calls another fighter out, as long as he's not doing it in a disrespectful manner, as long as he's not saying things that's just over the top, I don't have a problem with it. Julian is not being disrespectful with it. There are certain things that he's not going to say. He wants to fight Austin Trout. He believes that he can beat him. A lot of people don't want to fight a dude that's a slick southpaw. He's got a victory over Cotto and he's never been stopped. But we got a bunch of young guys at 154 and nobody really seems to want to fight anybody. Everybody is kind of posturing around. So Julian is like, "I know I can beat Austin Trout. If he's ranked #3 by Ring and he don't think I deserve a title shot, then I'll beat him and people will have to give me a title shot. I know I can beat Tony Harrison. I don't care how much people think he a killer, that kid can't beat me. I'll fight that kid tomorrow." He just believes in himself, so I'm not going to be the one that tells this kid you can't beat them. If a fighter says certain things, then that's just how he feels. He called me and said, "I want to fight the dude Jack Culcay. The German dude. That dude can't beat me. I'll fight Sergey Rabchenko. He can't beat me. I can beat Canelo." So when I say I'm not going to hold him back, of course I'm not going to hold him back because it's great when a fighter has confidence because the game is 75% mental. So he believes in himself and he tells me that in confidentiality. The only thing he is doing now is saying it out in the open. Before, he would just kind of tell me, "Yo, Stephen man, get me that fight. That kid can't beat me." I say, "Alright man, I'ma call Al up and try to get you the fight." But now, he's just cutting the middle man out and saying it publicly. Austin Trout is not the only guy that he thinks he can beat. He really thinks he can beat every guy in the division. He knows he's not in a position to get a title fight against a big name and Austin Trout is ranked really high and they both with Al, so he don't understand what's the big deal about why he can't fight Austin Trout. That's the guy that he wants, but he ain't the only one. He's just the only one that he had time to talk about on TV.
PC: How soon would you like him to be back in the ring?
SE: September! I'm gonna let him rest up. He just bought a new house and he just had a daughter, so I'm going to let him rest up. He had a daughter in between fights. He's been in camp and on the road and stuff like that, so I'll let him rest up and as soon as Ramadan is over on July 18th, man, we starting another camp. I've been told we getting a big fight in September, so we going to see who steps up to the plate. I personally would like to see him fight Jack Culcay for the WBA title, but you can't always get what you want. We going to brainstorm this as a team and come up with a good opponent and hopefully somebody will take the bait and we can rock and roll in September. We going to fight in September regardless, but I would just rather it be against a bigger name, a guy that's established, or a guy that has a belt. Julian is not really in love with fighting particular guys. He wants to be the unified champion of the world at 154 pounds. It's just certain guys catch the heat because they are in the way. When a fighter has a competitive spirit and people think that somebody is better than him or ranked over him, you should want to prove yourself.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]