"I think I did really good. I think I did better than a lot of other prospects. I did pretty good. I beat a former world champion. I beat a tough guy in Jeremiah Wiggins; that was a tough dude, man. I knocked out Dashon Johnson and nobody knocks him out, and I was beating Centeno's ass, but we just finished talking about what happened there, and then I finished the year off against Lora. So I think I had a pretty solid year. I learned a lot from the fights and I didn't get no soft touches and that helped me improve. I'm really looking forward to 2014, man. I'm excited," stated up-and-coming jr. middleweight contender Julian Williams, who talked about the year he had in 2013, his future plans, and much more. Check it out!
PC: Congrats on your last win, a 3rd round knockout over Orlando Lora. How do you feel about your performance?
JW: I feel good. You can never argue about a short night. We don't get paid for overtime. So I felt pretty good, you know? I got some good rounds in and it was a good way to end the year off.
PC: Lora was a tough guy. He took some big shots from Keith Thurman and Jermall Charlo before they eventually stopped him.
JW: I'm not those guys, you know what I mean? Everybody fights different, and just because somebody might be durable for one guy, that don't mean they will be durable for the others. But Lora was an exception though. I think I out-did everybody else. I think he did 6 with Keith Thurman and 5 with Charlo, so it was a good performance I guess.
PC: I know you were itching to get in and erase that no contest out of your memory. Did this performance do that for you?
JW: I was pissed off after that one, but no, it didn't erase that memory at all because I was expected to beat Lora. A lot of people had me losing to Centeno, so I wanted to prove everybody wrong. I got robbed of that opportunity, but that's water under the bridge now. Honestly, I'm really tired of hearing about it. I get so much stuff over my Twitter feed and Facebook and Instagram about a rematch, you know what I mean? Some stuff is out of a fighter's control. There is nothing I can do.
PC: You had a very busy year. How do you grade yourself out for the year?
JW: I think I did really good. I think I did better than a lot of other prospects. I did pretty good. I beat a former world champion. I beat a tough guy in Jeremiah Wiggins; that was a tough dude, man. I knocked out Dashon Johnson and nobody knocks him out, and I was beating Centeno's ass, but we just finished talking about what happened there, and then I finished the year off against Lora. So I think I had a pretty solid year. I learned a lot from the fights and I didn't get no soft touches and that helped me improve. I'm really looking forward to 2014, man. I'm excited.
PC: I know you prided yourself on not getting any pushovers or walk in the parks so to speak, and you really had a tough schedule for a guy with less than 10 fights to start the year.
JW: Ah man, it was a long year. It's crazy, man, when I think about it. Everybody's career is going to be different and everybody's road is going to be different, but when you look around, I see some of the guys that these other prospects are fighting, and it's just like, "Wow! How is this guy getting approved?" But I'm gonna be honest with you, man, I don't want no soft touches. We are all trying to get to the top and we are all trying to be defending world champions, but like I always say, if you don't have the proper type of fights, when you get there, you not gonna be able to handle it because them dudes at the top can fight. The Trout's of the world and Erislandy Lara's and Canelo's...them fucking guys can go! So them guys can fight, so if you ain't ready, you gonna get blown out of the water.
PC: Do you not want any gimmes because you feel like that is false security and it's a setback in your career or do you not want them because you feel like you are on the fast track to fighting some of those guys you just named?
JW: You know, I don't know if I'm on the fast track, but it would definitely set back my career because let me tell you something, man, if they put me in there with a jerky, I'm gonna make him look like a jerky. It wouldn't do me no good for them to put me in there with guys who I am just gonna beat up on. They will be out of there in 3 or 4 rounds and it just wouldn't do me no good. I'm just taking it one fight at a time and just trying to learn as much as possible in each fight.
PC: I talk about exposure with a lot of the young fighters and it's amazing that you guys are being televised so much because just 5 years or so ago, maybe even less than that, you almost had to have 20 fights to be on major network television as a fighter.
JW: Ah man, it's very important. Al Haymon is doing a phenomenal job, man. He is doing a great job. Him and Breadman [Stephen Edwards] are the two best things to ever happen in my career. I take my hat off to the guys because all of my fights I had last year, except the fight against Lora, was on TV. I fought on Showtime and FOX in every other fight and I'm only 14-0. I got with Al when I was 9-0, so pretty much every fight I have had sense I've been with him has been televised. That speaks for itself and that's definitely an important thing.
PC: When you got with Al and Bread, what were the talks you had with them in terms of the approach and the direction they wanted to take you in?
JW: Well, I have been with Bread since my second pro fight, so we were always just constantly...even when we were with the other guy, you know, I don't want to say his name, but even when we were with the other promoter we were with, we were always constantly working. I had only fought like once in 2012, but we were always working and putting miles in and getting the best sparring we can get and traveling and going to this place and that place to get sparring; just working. And I finally got the shot when I got a fight on a good undercard and that's when those guys seen me and everything just worked from there and it's been a blessing ever since.
PC: Before I let you go, I gotta let you touch on the Adrien Broner situation because you were very vocal on your Facebook page basically stating that boxing media and fans alike kind of prey on certain fighter's downfall. I wanted to let you elaborate on that.
JW: I just didn't like the fact that so many people were so happy, and I don't want to make it a race thing because I seen black people happy, Mexicans, just so many people happy that this kid lost. And he brought a lot of this stuff on himself because some of the things he do is extremely ignorant, but first of all, what he choose to do with his life, in his personal life and with his money, is all his business. Now, he makes it other people's business when he put it on social networks and World Star and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, I just don't agree with nobody wishing bad on anybody. It kind of like really got me pissed off a little bit because let me tell you something, Brandon Rios is the same kind of asshole that Adrien Broner is and he don't get none of the blame for it. They didn't even give him a hard time about the failed drug test; he gets on TV and curse, he made fun of the great Freddie Roach, he does a lot of things, but he don't get none of the flack that Adrien Broner gets. And I don't know why, you know what I mean, but I just don't like it. And I don't like nobody preying on someone's downfall because listen, let me tell you something, they don't talk about how much nuts the kid got. That shit is not easy getting up two times from being hurt badly, and he was coming forward at the end of that fight. He still lost the fight, but he showed tons of heart. This boxing shit is not a game; this shit not basketball and ain't none of that shit funny when people want to do up pictures of a man hurt or knocked out. I take my hat off to Adrien Broner because he showed a lot of heart and he kept on pushing. He talked all that shit he talked and, in my opinion, he backed it up; he just didn't win.
PC: I couldn't have said that any better my man. Well I appreciate your time, man. I look forward to a big year from you. Is there anything you want to close off with?
JW: Just keep following me and supporting me. I'm working extremely hard and I'm gonna stay humbled and just keep working extremely hard until I get my big shot and then I'm gonna show my ass.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]