Austin Williams and his trainer, Kevin Cunningham, plan to turn a matchup with WBC middleweight titleholder Carlos Adames into a dogfight.
Williams-Adames will serve as the main event in Saturday’s card at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
The two were originally set to fight on the Teofimo Lopez Jnr-Shakur Stevenson undercard on January 31, but Adames had to withdraw on the day of the fight.
At Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference, Cunningham assured that the delay would mean Adames will face a more developed version of the 29-year-old Williams, who trains out of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
“The evolution of ‘Ammo’ is a continuous process,” Cunningham said. “I hope Adames is ready for a fight, because he is going to have to fight a dogfight.”
Cunningham praised Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn for finding a replacement opponent for Williams, who in January won a 10-round unanimous decision over Wendy Toussaint, with Toussaint taking the fight on a day’s notice. The fight allowed Williams to stay sharp and avoid what would have been an eight-month layoff.
“We know what we are here for,” Cunningham said. “Adames is not going to give his title away; we've got to take it.”
Adames, a 31-year-old Dominican who trains in Las Vegas, didn’t take kindly to the strong words.
“If you want to rip that title away from me, you need to be sure that you have conditions to be able to do that,” Adames said.
Adverse conditions kept Adames from keeping his defense with Williams back in January, when extreme dehydration forced the belt holder to bow out.
“It was a surprise for me and my team,” Adames said via a translator. “We were 100 per cent prepared, but my body wouldn’t respond at that time.”
Williams wanted to hear none of it at Thursday’s presser.
“This dude, a day before he pulled out of the fight, was saying easy work for the fight,” Williams said. “Then, the next day, he was so sick that he had to call 9-1-1.”
Williams called Adames soft and continued to question why he pulled out of the original bout.
“It is very easy to speak when you are in front of a microphone, but I do my talking in the ring,” Adames said. “If that's what you think, let’s do it right now.”
Adames most recently fought in February 2025, making a title defense against Hamzah Sheeraz in a bout that was scored a majority draw. Adames will be making the third defense of his title after being elevated from interim titleholder. Williams is on a four-fight win streak since being knocked out by Sheeraz.
“It is going to be a real fight,” Williams said. “It is no thinking. I am just going to fight him. We are really going to fight. … Bro, I am going to hurt you.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
