Carlos Adames overwhelmingly defends interim WBC middleweight crown

Carlos Adames starred with a powerful performance to retain his interim World Boxing Council middleweight belt by defeating Julian Williams in Minneapolis, MN on Saturday, June 24.

The fighter from the Dominican Republic took the victory against the former unified 154-pound champion via TKO. The referee ended the action at 2 minutes and 45 seconds of the ninth round. Williams and his corner did not consider the stoppage correct, but at the time he was being battered.

At the time of the end, Adames was leading the actions as reflected in the three cards with scores of 80-72, 78-74 and 77-74.

With the technical knockout victory, Carlos Adames, 29, improved his record to 23-1, 18 KOs and made the first successful defense of the belt he won in October 2022 in Carson after defeating Juan Macías Montiel.

“If I had hit him with more punches, it probably would have hurt him a lot.

“I’m so grateful to everyone who came out here and supported me today and all week,” Adames said. “We gave the fans a great fight and I achieved my goal, which was to walk out of here with the title.

“I don’t really know how he survived the fourth, but he is an experienced fighter. He has skills and that’s what got him through that round.

“I am one of those fighters who knows that to cut down the tree, you start with the trunk and then it falls down on its own. I am a warrior. I’m going to rest a bit and see what’s next.

“Anybody who wants to be big in this division right now has to come through me.”

The card was presented by Showtime.