The madness that is boxing's 154-pound division continues with yet another big upset in a world title fight.
Jeison Rosario, a massive underdog heading into the fight against Julian Williams, spoiled Williams' homecoming fight by stopping him in the fifth round to win the unified WBA and IBF junior middleweight titles. The fight headlined a PBC on FOX card from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
Rosario managed to cut Williams up just over his left eye in the second round and both men battled back-and-forth for the first four rounds, trading hard punches in each round. The fifth round saw Rosario stun Williams with a flurry of left hands, sending him to the canvas.
Although there was never an official knockdown ruled in the fight, Williams seriously hurt and in no position to defend himself after getting back up. Rosario landed a hard uppercut followed by a left hand and the referee was forced to step in and stop the fight, giving Rosario the win. At the time of the stoppage, Rosario led 39-37 on two cards, with the third card scored 38-38.
This was Williams' first fight in his hometown of Philadelphia since 2011 and his first coming in as the champion. Williams was coming off a massive win over Jarrett Hurd to become the new unified WBA and IBF champion last year, but now sees himself back chasing for a world title. After the fight, Williams said he will exercise a rematch clause in an effort to recapture his two world titles.
The win continues a crazy string of shocking results dating all the way back to December 2018 when Tony Harrison beat Jermell Charlo to win the WBC junior middleweight titles. Since then, Williams and Patrick Teixeira became world champions after winning fights they were considered the underdog. In Teixeira's case, he won the WBO's interim title at 154 pounds with a win over Carlos Adames last November but was shortly elevated to full champion when Jaime Munguia vacated the belt to campaign at 160 pounds.
Also on the card was Chris Colberto moving one step closer to becoming a full world champion at 130 pounds by beating former WBA titleholder Jezreel Corrales. After a fairly dominant performance through 12 rounds, Colbert won by unanimous decision to become the new interim WBA super featherweight titleholder, further muddying up the governing body's super featherweight title situation with Leo Santa Cruz and Rene Alvarado also holding WBA belts.
Below are the full results of the January 18 PBC card from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia:
- Jeison Rosario defeated Julian Williams by TKO, round 5, 1:37 to win the unified WBA "Super" and IBF junior middleweight titles
- Chris Colbert defeated Jezreel Corrales by unanimous decision (116-111, 117-110, 117-110) to win the interim WBA super featherweight title
- Jorge Cota defeated Thomas LaManna by TKO, round 5, 1:22
- Kyrone Davis defeated Antonio Todd by TKO, round 4
- Jose Luis Gallegos defeated Ricky Lopez by unanimous decision
- Paul Kroll defeated Marcel Rivers by TKO, round 4, 0:49
- Joey Spencer defeated Erik Spring by unanimous decision (60-54, 60-54, 60-54)
- Vito Mielnicki Jr. defeated Preston Wilson by unanimous decision (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)
- Romuel Cruz defeated Julio Garcia by TKO, round 1, 2:56
- Miguel Roman defeated Antonio Lucaine by unanimous decision (40-35, 39-36, 39-36)
- Norman Neely defeated Larry Knight by KO, round 1, 1:21
