Showtime’s latest schedule update includes a slightly delayed title fight and a brand-new tripleheader. Alberto Puello’s previously revealed 140-lb title defense against Rolando Romero will now land on May 13th, while Carlos Adames vs Julian Williams leads a June 24th show at The Armory in Minneapolis.
Puello (21-0, 10 KO) vs Romero (14-1, 12 KO) is very much a WBA sort of fight. Puello was ostensibly supposed to fight Ismael Barroso after edging out Batyr Akhmedov for the title last year, only for the sanctioning body to instead announce that he’d meet Gary Antuanne Russell in his inaugural defense. That never even made it to the table as far as I’m aware, so instead it’s Puello against a lightweight coming off a knockout loss.
This was supposed to happen in April, but got bumped thanks to Sebastian Fundora vs Brian Mendoza on the 8th. The supporting cast includes the aforementioned Russell (16-0, 16 KO) taking a huge step back in class against PBC regular Kent Cruz (16-0-3, 10 KO) and Rances Barthelemy (29-2-1, 15 KO) returning to action against Omar Juarez (14-1, 5 KO).
There’s still no telling when Jermall Charlo will return to action, so Adames (22-1, 17 KO) will defend his interim WBC middleweight title against Williams (28-3-1, 16 KO). “J-Rock” has fought just once since suffering consecutive losses to Jeison Rosario and Vladimir Hernandez, a unanimous decision over Argentine journeyman Rolando Wenceslao Mansilla in November.
We’ve seen Williams flip the script before, but moving up to challenge a genuinely lethal 160-pounder seems like a tall task.
That card will also see Erickson Lubin (24-2, 17 KO) look to bounce back against the hot-and-cold Luis Arias (20-3-1, 9 KO) and Fernando Martinez (15-0, 8 KO) defend his IBF super flyweight title against mandatory challenger Jade Bornea (18-0, 12 KO).