Yoenis Tellez calls Julian Williams match-up ‘the opportunity of a lifetime’

Yoenis Tellez knows his fight with Julian Williams has the power to change his career – and maybe his life.

They will fight for the interim WBA junior middleweight title on March 1 as part of the pay-per-view undercard supporting Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach Jr at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Tellez, a 24-year-old Cuban training with Ronnie Shields in Texas, has begun to make a name for himself but has still gone relatively unnoticed. Case in point: BoxingScene’s 2025 list of 25 prospects to watch excluded him. Tellez has yet to make a memorable impression with fight fans, which a matchup against a former titleholder in Williams could rectify.

“I’ve had an outstanding training camp because I know what this opportunity means to me,” Tellez said at the virtual press conference for the undercard. “It is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I want to take full advantage on March 1.”

Tellez fought two times in 2024. His most recent fight saw him stop Johan Gonzalez in seven rounds last October. Tellez, currently ranked No. 2 by the WBA and No. 8 by the WBC, will open the pay-per-view telecast of one of the biggest fights of the first quarter of the new year.

“I didn’t focus on a name of a specific opponent,” said Tellez, 9-0 (7 KOs). “In the end, it is all about seeking out the opportunities. It doesn’t matter who is in front of me as long as I get to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Williams, a 34-year-old Philadelphian, is coming off a bounce-back win in January 2024, his only fight of the past year. Williams was stopped by Carlos Adames in his attempt to move up to middleweight and capture Adames’ interim title. Since defeating Jarrett Hurd and winning the unified junior middleweight title, Williams – 2-3 in his past five fights – has hit tough times. But he has the opportunity to reestablish himself among the top names in a division in which he was once the belt holder.

“Julian has everything to gain and everything to lose,” Tellez said. “My motivation is to get to where he used to be.”

Lucas Ketelle took an unconventional path to boxing, eventually finding his stride in gyms and media. For the past decade, he has hosted the “Lukie Boxing” podcast, filmed training camps for fighters like Arnold Barboza Jnr, Mikey Garcia and Caleb Plant, and worked with top professionals such as Mike Bazzel. Ketelle is also an author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for ProBox TV, BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @LukieBoxing.