Fox Sports 1 Quick Pick

Williams will look to remain undefeated

Julian Williams vs. Freddy Hernandez: Tonight Fox Sports 1 will put on a fight card headlined by a young, undefeated prospect going against a tough veteran who may be passed his prime.  Julian Williams (14-0-1, 8 KO) will be facing the toughest test of his young career when he faces off against Freddy Hernandez (30-6, 20 KO) in a 10 round bout set for the junior middleweight division.  Williams has been brought along at a nice steady pace and this fight should be a good one for him.  Hernandez was once viewed as a real threat in the welterweight division until he ran into some stiff competition.  Hernandez has a record of 1-5 in his last six fights with losses to Andre Berto, Erislandy Lara, Demetrius Andrade, Delvin Rodriguez, and to the lesser known Francisco Santana.  His lone win in his past six bouts came against Luis Collazo.  Williams will look to follow in the footsteps of Andrade by beating his first tough veteran opponent and then stepping up his level of opposition.  At this point Hernandez isn't much more than an experienced stepping stone for young, untested prospects.  Williams will be the much quicker fighter in the ring, both offensively and defensively.  On offense he works behind a good jab and has an impressive right hook and straight right hand.  He is also versatile offensively because he is successful using his jab on the outside and when he gets in at close range his combinations can be electric.  He is a counter puncher but he could stand to be busier and more confident in his hand speed which would allow him to counter even more.  Williams also moves pretty well defensively and moves his head a lot to avoid big punches.  Hernandez has much slower hands and throws wider punches so his gloves take much longer to reach their target.  Offensively however he will be the aggressor in this fight.  He likes to come forward and make his opponents work for the win.  Defensively Hernandez is a liability.  He starts off behind a high guard but tends to get lazy and lower his  hands slightly.  That bad habit leaves him open to be countered and Williams could really capitalize on that.  While Williams doesn't have a ton of power it wouldn't be surprising if he caught Hernandez with a counter he doesn't see and drops him.  I expect this fight to have some decent action early on until Williams really starts to consistently land the straight right hand.  Williams will start to pick Hernandez apart in the middle rounds and box his way to a unanimous decision victory.