While the WBA wants unified super welterweight champion Jarrett Hurd to rematch Erislandy Lara, the IBF ordered its #1 and #2 contenders to fight in an eliminator. The two have reached a deal, and Julian Williams and Takeshi Inoue are now slated to fight sometime this summer.
August 4th is the proposed date.
Williams (25-1-1, 15 KO) is 3-0 since getting trucked by Jermall Charlo in 2016, beating Joshua Conley, Ishe Smith, and Nathaniel Gallimore. “J-Rock” is by far the more proven of these two and, as we’ve seen, there’s no shame at all in losing to Charlo.
Inoue (13-0-1, 7 KO), no relation, has fought just once outside of Japan, a 2016 win over 0-12 Sawaeng Kingkaeo. He is also not, I discovered, in any way connected to Japanese MMA veteran “Lion” Takeshi Inoue, which bums me out because I like that guy. This Takeshi has a couple of decent wins, but is taking a huge step up.
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