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Carlos Adames stopped Julian Williams on Saturday night, much to the disgust of Williams and his trainer, Stephen Edwards.
The emerging Dominican middleweight nevertheless beat Williams by ninth-round technical knockout at The Armory in Minneapolis. Williams was still on his feet when referee Mark Nelson stepped between them to halt the action with 15 seconds to go in the ninth round of their 12-round fight for Adames’ WBC interim middleweight title.
Williams, who was bleeding from a cut beneath his right eye and taking power punches from Adames, expressed disbelief when Nelson stopped their “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event.
The 29-year-old Adames, who continually switched between orthodox and southpaw stances, relentlessly attacked Williams’ body, but he couldn’t put the former unified junior middleweight champion down.
Adames improved to 23-1 and produced his 18th knockout. Adames also successfully defended the WBC interim middleweight title he won in his previous fight – a third-round knockout of Mexican contender Juan Macias Montiel (23-6-2, 23 KOs) on October 8 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Adames, who hurt Williams badly during the fourth round, agreed with Nelson’s decision to stop their fight almost five full rounds later.
“I think the referee stopped it [at the right time],” Adames told Showtime’s Jim Gray, according to a translator. “Because he could’ve really got hurt. … That’s when the referee stopped it, when I hit him with those two rights. And if I would’ve hit him with another one, he would’ve got really hurt.”
Philadelphia’s Williams (28-4-1, 16 KOs, 1 NC) slipped to 1-3 in his four fights since he upset then-undefeated Jarrett Hurd to win the IBF, IBO and WBA 154-pound championships in May 2019. Williams has been stopped in two of those bouts, by Jeison Rosario in January 2020 and Adames.