"Here is the thing, Perc, there is only 4 or 5 stars in boxing. It's Floyd Mayweather, it's Canelo, it's Manny Pacquiao and it's Cotto. They are trying to make Triple G a superstar. We have to see what happens with David Lemieux. Guys act like stars, but they don't have their fight game down and in this day of social media, these people will tear you to pieces if you're not good enough or who you think you are. You get exposed. I don't allow Julian to get like that," stated world-class trainer Stephen "Breadman" Edwards, who talked about Julian Williams' recent performance and much more. Check it out!
PC: Impressive win for Julian Williams on Tuesday night against Luciano Cuello. I don't think I have ever seen you as excited as you were after that fight. Why were the emotions so high for you after that particular knockout win?
SE: I'm just happy for him, man. I just know when a kid has turned the corner and he turned the corner. I know what a performance like that means to your career on national TV like that. I thought it was going to be some pressure on him because Sammy Vasquez just scored a sensational knockout, Jermall scored a sensational knockout, and Peter Quillin had scored a sensational knockout, so when everybody is on PBC getting sensational knockouts, sometimes a guy could force things too much. Before the fight, I told him pressure is a good thing because when people put pressure on you, that means they expect high things from you. A person who has no pressure, nobody expects anything from them. But it's weird because he told me, "I'm going to knock this guy out in the first round." He was in incredible shape and I told him to go ahead and go for him, but if you don't get him, get your second wind and go back to your jab. I knew he was in incredible shape and that he would get his second wind if it didn't come. But I was hitting pads with him in the back, man, and I'm like, "Man, you are cracking tonight." I couldn't believe how hard he was punching.
I'ma tell you something Perc, Julian is a lot better puncher. He's been scoring a lot of knockouts. I think in his last 12 fights, he has 9 knockouts. He's a better puncher than even his record indicates. He had a little soft spot in his career after about his 6th or 7th fight where he had about 4 or 5 decisions in a row because his hand was messed up. He had a reoccurring injury. He has a lot of electricity in his punches. He reminds me of Terry Norris and Donald Curry in that sense. He's just sharp, very accurate, and very, very... it's not like that thudding Golovkin power, but it's that sharp electric type of punching. He answered the call. He jumped right on the guy. Everybody think it happened once he got the guy to the ropes, but it was actually very early into the round. The first 20 seconds into the round, he hit him with a straight right hand down the middle and I knew the fight was over. I was like, "This guy is in trouble." All through camp, he was punching really hard. He spars in 18's. He has Winning head gear, Winning cup, and Winning gloves and he spars in 18's and he was drawing a lot of blood. And I was like, "Why the fuck is he making all these kids bleed in the gym; even with the headgear on." He's coming back to the corner and his gloves are pink and he was like, "That's not my blood." A lot of his sparring partners were bleeding all over the place, man, so I knew he was really punching for this camp. He was doing a lot of explosive exercises for this camp and it really paid off. I was just excited because a lot of people doubt him. He had people saying lil' things about him before the fight and it was just a good feeling. I was hyped up and he was hyped up and that's just how it go sometimes.
PC: I know what the phrase "turning the corner means." With Julian Williams in particular, what were you looking for in him to say he turned the corner?
SE: There is a saying that goes, "a clever fighter is one that can win with ease." He pretty much told me what he was going to do and then he went out and did it. I know people may call Cuello a bum, but Cuello could be 37-1. Cuello has been a durable guy throughout his career, so for him to tell me he was going to knock this guy out in the first round and then go out and do it, that's not easy at any level in boxing against a B- guy like that. He's not a great fighter, but he's serviceable, so for him to predict a first round stoppage and then go do it, it's not an easy thing to do, Perc. It's like a basketball player saying, "I'm getting 40 tonight." Now you may can score 40 points, but to get 40 when you feel like you're going to get 40 is something different. So to be able to do that, I just know that he's matured and he's grown, man. That's one of the reasons why I agreed to train him 5 to 6 years ago because I knew he had an upside. And for him to do that and not worry about the crowd and not worry about his friends and family coming to see him and just, boom! He took the guy out when he wanted to do it; just lets me know he's in a different place. He's turned the corner as far as his performance level is concerned.
PC: As a trainer, could you take anything away from a 90-second knockout? Can you watch that tape and see things that you can take away from a quick fight like that, positive or negative?
SE: You can take something away from any fight. Anything that you can see with your eyes, you can take something away from. It wasn't a lucky punch that he hit him with to get the knockout. The dude did something, Julian reacted to it, and he executed it. He had to apply his boxing IQ. The dude held his hand a certain way and he had to throw a certain punch to get to the guy and hit the soft spot. He didn't close his eyes and throw a hail mary punch, so of course I can take something from it. Sometimes first round knockouts can be really misleading as far as who is better than who, but I can definitely take something from it because the dude did a certain thing and we practice on certain things in training and as soon as Julian saw him hold his hands a certain way, he didn't have to think about it; he just reacted.
PC: I think that's where I was trying to go with the question. Did you see what you wanted to see in that short amount of time?
SE: Yes! No doubt about it. I knew he would knock him out, but I didn't know he would knock him out in 90 seconds. Julian is one of those kids where it's like, Canelo knocked him out, I want to fight Canelo eventually, so I gotta take care of business. He puts good pressure on himself and I like that about him.
PC: I'm by no means dumping on this kid, but he was in your sights as an opponent for J Rock. I know losing can happen to any fighter, but when you see a young and talented kid like Tony Harrison lose in the manner in which he did, how do you prevent that from happening to your young fighter?
SE: You know what, man, I actually feel bad for Tony Harrison. I'm a humanitarian, man, and a lot of these kids come from bad environments and they put a lot into boxing and they don't have any other options outside of boxing. Tony Harrison is another kid that Julian wanted to fight, as you know. But I actually feel bad for Tony Harrison because I think he's a solid fighter, but I don't think he realized what he was getting into going against a guy like Willie Nelson. He had never been in there before. He was a little bit cocky, a little bit dismissive, and he thinks he's a puncher. I'm not saying he can't punch, but Willie Nelson is a guy who goes down all the time and Tony Harrison couldn't dent Willie Nelson's chin. Tony Harrison had a little bit of an over-inflated view of himself and if you don't humble yourself, they say God will humble you. I think if he can recover from this, he will become better for it because now he knows what he has to do to compete with elite level fighters. He was winning the fight, but it's a hell of a thing to be in a fight, Perc, where every round, when you're going back to your corner, you know you are in there with a dude that's trying to win; trying to win and competing with you.
Willie Nelson has been thrown to the wolves his whole career, so when you see him in a fight like that against Tony Harrison, even though Harrison was winning, you can see the sand going out of his hour glass because Willie Nelson was plugging away. It's funny because Julian told me, "Willie Nelson going to beat Tony Harrison because Harrison's competition level has been so bad, when he gets in that deep water like that, you gotta be prepared. I'm telling you, he's going to beat him." And I was like, "Nah, I actually think Tony Harrison is going to win the fight." And Julian was like, "Nah, Willie Nelson going to walk Tony Harrison down and knock him out." And that's exactly how it happened. I keep Julian in line because I shoot straight with him. There was a time 3 or 4 years ago where I told him he wasn't good enough. He was complaining about his old promoter and I told him, "Guess what, you gotta go to who want you. Top Rank and Golden Boy don't want you. You gotta go with who wants you." I told him he wasn't good enough or strong enough and his defense wasn't good enough. I told him that his eating habits wasn't good enough and that his mentality wasn't good enough. I humbled him by letting him know. And sometimes when a fighter get a big head, and I don't know what goes on in Tony Harrison's camp, but you gotta humble these kids sometimes because every dog has it's day. There will always be a style you can't overcome and I just think Tony Harrison was a little bit cocky. He took too many things for granted and Willie Nelson is not an easy guy, man. He is tall, strong, he's got amateur pedigree, and I think Tony Harrison was a little bit cocky and I think now he realizes what it's like to compete at this level.
PC: Right after that fight, you tweeted that guys have to make sure they really know how to fight before they try to be a superstar.
SE: And that's not saying he can't fight, but people think everything in boxing is personal and it's not. I don't know Tony Harrison, but I like the kid. He's a well-spoken and articulate kid. I like him a lot. Just because my fighter wants to fight him doesn't mean he's my enemy. I like the kid, but so many of these kids want to be superstars, walking to the ring acting like they are stars and taking pictures and just doing a whole bunch of shit that a star would do and they are not a star yet. And then they get exposed to certain levels, man. Here is the thing, Perc, there is only 4 or 5 stars in boxing. It's Floyd Mayweather, it's Canelo, it's Manny Pacquiao and it's Cotto. They are trying to make Triple G a superstar. We have to see what happens with David Lemieux. Guys act like stars, but they don't have their fight game down and in this day of social media, these people will tear you to pieces if you're not good enough or who you think you are. You get exposed. I don't allow Julian to get like that. It's not so much a blue collar thing, because he likes nice shit like everybody else. He likes to shop, he likes to wear designer things, but I don't let him go all crazy because he ain't a star yet. He go and knock out Canelo and Jermall, then we can act like that, but right now, he gotta stay in his lane. People get spoiled out here right now with this social media. It's important that your team keep you mentally grounded.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]