Yoenis Tellez W12 Julian Williams... Cuba's Yoenis “El Bandolero” Tellez, 153.4 pounds, who is trained by Ronnie Shields,vopened up the Amazon Prime pay-per-view event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, by defeating Philadelphia’s Julian “J Rock” Williams via unanimous decision. With the former two-belt junior middleweight champion boxing on his toes, Tellez stalked his foe intent on closing the gap. Using forceful punches and the faster hands, Tellez dominated and bloodied Williams’ face over the twelve frames. Tellez’s jab frequently broke through Williams’ high guard to create swelling underneath his right eye. When Tellez would trap Williams against the ropes, he ripped a torrent of blistering hooks downstairs. Tellez’s dominance was reflected on the scorecards, with tallies of 119-109, 118-110, and 117-111 for a unanimous decision victory to up his resume to 10-0 with 7 KOs. The win yielded Tellez, a veteran of 150 amateur bouts, the vacant WBA interim junior middleweight title. He should be elevated to the full champion once Terence Crawford moves up to super middleweight to challenge world super middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez as expected in September. Williams left the ring at 29-5-1 with 17 KOs.

 

"This was a complete effort, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out,” said Tellez. “I want to dedicate this to my team and all my loved ones, as well as the fans who came out here to support me. J-Rock is a great champion, and I gave it my all through twelve rounds against a quality opponent. What's next? I don't know yet. The only thing I'm sure of is that I'm ready to face any champion out there, and that the 154-pound division has a hungry Cuban fighter coming for more.”