Fight Night: WILLIAMS vs CUELLO and FLORES vs CUSOLITO

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WILLIAMS vs CUELLO

You don’t make it through your first 21 fights with an unblemished record and not impress a few people along the way. Among Julian Williams’ biggest admirers? None other than Naazim Richardson, Philadelphia’s dean of boxing trainers.

“J Rock is the truth,” said Richardson, who trains Bernard Hopkins and works out of the James Shuler Memorial gym. “He has talent, a ferocious determination and the intangibles to be a champion.

“Not just speed and power, but he’s a real student of the game who takes it very seriously. He approaches the game like he’s a professional. It’s his job, and he’s always on top of it. He’s one of the top prospects—not just in the [154-pound] division, but in the sport.”

A 25-year-old boxer-puncher, Williams (20-0-1, 12 KOs) will pursue his sixth stoppage in eight fights when he faces Luciano Cuello (35-3, 17 KOs) on September 22.

Williams last fought June 13, when he earned a sixth-round TKO victory over Arman Ovsepyan in Birmingham, Alabama.

As for the 31-year-old Cuello, he’s riding a three-fight winning streak and could be Williams’ most difficult challenge to date. Then again, Cuello’s three losses occurred in his most high-profile matches: He was stopped in the sixth round by Canelo Alvarez and lost unanimous decisions to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Willie Nelson.

 

FLORES vs CUSOLITO

Given their combined 35 knockouts in 45 fights, chances are Argentina’s Luis Emanuel Cusolito and Mexico’s Moises Flores won’t make it to the final bell when they square off September 22 at the Sands Event Center.

Cusolito (21-1, 19 KOs) will be after his eighth consecutive win—and his seventh by knockout—when he enters the ring for this scheduled 12-round Premier Boxing Champions bout (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, Fox Sports 1).

Flores (23-0, 16 KOs) comes in off a 12-round split-decision victory over Oscar Escandon in a 122-pound title fight in April in Carson, California. It was just the second time in his last 16 fights that the undefeated 28-year-old had been taken the distance.

Cusolito, 27, will be making his American debut, with all but one of his fights taking place in his home country. Cusolito can only hope fighting on foreign soil doesn’t mess with his mojo, as he’s recorded a TKO in five consecutive bouts—all in his homeland—four of which didn’t even make it to the end of the second round.

In fact, with the exception of Flores’ victory over Escandon in April, neither boxer has fought more than seven rounds in their entire careers.