Julian Williams Returns With Win; Clark Outpoints Golub Amidst Controversy

Julian 'J-Rock' Williams recovered from the lone loss of his professional career, remaining in full control throughout his eventual 7th round knockout of Joshua Conley in their super welterweight battle Friday evening at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.

The Bounce TV-televised co-feature—which came in chief support to local hero Robert Easter Jr. in a lightweight title defense versus Denis Shafikov—was a slow-moving affair, with Williams sticking directly to his blueprint while Conley showed little interest in putting up much of a challenge. It made for a relatively easy night's work for Williams, the fighting pride of Philadelphia who was able to return to the win column while also getting in some much needed rounds after being out of the ring for more than six months.

Fans in attendance were unappreciative of what was taking place in the ring, although Williams took care of that problem in round seven. A flurry of head shots caused Conley to step back and paw his right eye as he took a knee for the bout's lone official knockdown. It appeared the Californian was going to take the full count but arose at nine in forcing the bout to continue.

His corner, however, had seen enough. A subsequent bushel of power punches from Williams prompted Conley's handlers to literally throw in the towel. For whatever reason, referee Gary Wolfe refused to acknowledge the surrender flag but decided to stop the contest once he observed the beaten boxer was no longer interested in continuing.

The official time was 0:45 of round seven.

Williams—who weighed a career-heaviest 157 pounds for the bout—improves to 23-1-1 (15KOs) with the win. Conley falls to 14-2-1 (9KOs) with the loss, with both career defeats coming on Bounce TV cards. His previous setback came on the non-televised undercard of the very first Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Bounce telecast in Aug. '15, dropping a disputed eight-round decision to Daquan Arnett.

There was plenty of dispute in the opening bout of this telecast, where Cincinnati's Jamontay Clark was granted a highly questionable eight-round decision win over Ivan Golub in a matchup of unbeaten southpaw welterweights.

Scores from the three Ohio judges were 77-75 twice and an unforgivable 79-73 tally turned in by Ken Bucher, who—short of somehow mixing up the two fighters (a la Clark Sammartino a few weeks ago in confusing Ryan Burnett and Lee Haskins on his card)—managed to turn in quite possibly the worst scorecard of 2017 to date.

Both boxers had their say over the course of the eight-round affair, but it was Golub landing the more substantive punches particularly in the second half of the contest. A knockdown was missed at the end of round four when Golub had Clark on rubbery legs. Clark attempted to clinch his way out of trouble but was unable to steady himself as he slid to the canvas. Referee James Howe overlooked the action that took place in the ring and chose to wave it off as a slip.

It didn't even matter on the scorecards, as Golub's hard work went virtually ignored as the three ringside officials went out of their way to ensure that Clark's perfect record remained intact.

The crowd wasn't having it, not caring that the Ohio kid got the decision as the boos let loose the moment the scores were announced. As troubling as was the final decision, it goes in the books as a victory for Clark whose record advances to 12-0 (7KOs). Golub—a Ukrainian southpaw now based in Brooklyn, New York—deserved a far better fate in suffering his first loss as his record falls to 13-1 (11KOs).