Julian "Hammer Hands" Rodriguez

New Jersey’s very own Julian Rodriguez is set to announce himself as one of the best at boxing’s light welterweight division, (140 pounds) commonly referred to as the junior welterweight division. Julian is no stranger to being the best so as his pro career progresses and he secures big fights with the world’s best he will not back down from the challenge. Being the number 1 ranked amateur in the country, he amassed an incredible resume spanning over 230 fights. He faced boxers like Gervonta Davis, whom he fought twice, winning both times. He also beat Robert Easter Jr., beat Gary Antuane Russell, beat Kenneth Sims, and fought Jamel Herring, losing a close decision. When we asked Julian about his wins over Davis, he was very humble and stated that they don’t really mean anything since they he has gone on to do very big things in his own unique way.

Cuban boxer and P4P great, Guillermo Rigondeaux passed his amateur jersey onto Julian

Throughout his illustrious amateur career he attended Hasbrouck Heights High School. He missed a lot days and sometimes weeks at a time in order to compete in tournaments but still graduated. This took an incredible amount of patience from Julian to do since he would come back to school with sometimes up to 3 weeks worth of homework. After school, Julian would head straight to the boxing gym where his dad Alex Devia trains him. This is reminiscent to Julian’s beginnings. It seemed as if his destiny as a boxer was written from the start since he would have to go to the gym after school every single day since no one was around to watch him. Julian would watch his dad train his boxers and eventually jumped in the ring himself just to play around and pass the time. Alex decided that if his son was going to box, he was going to do it right. The rest was history. The pair still train together to this day. Julian speaks of his dad so highly and credits him for where he is currently. It was actually his dad who gave him his nickname Hammer Hands which was a play on words of Roberto Duran’s Hands of Stone, a family favorite fighter and early inspiration for Julian. Some of the feats Julian achieved throughout his amateur career include winning the 2013 National Golden Gloves, winning a silver medal at the 2012 National PAL Championships and 2012 U.S. National championships, and serving as an Olympic alternate in 2012. He also has sparred numerous world class boxers such as Manny Pacquiao, Danny Garcia, and Felix Verdejo, all of which were amazing experiences. Julian also has a very close relationship with fellow Jersey boy and professional boxer Glen Tapia, who he describes as a brother to him.

After winning the Golden Gloves he made the decision to go pro and had his first professional fight on September 28, 2013 at the age of 19 where he won via knockout. Julian has now improved his professional record to 16-0 with 10 knockouts. His eyes are firmly set on fighting the best his division has to offer. We expect to see him get a title shot in early 2019 especially considering how busy he wants to stay from now till then. A picture of the landscape of the junior welterweight division is as follows. The current champions in the weight class include Kiryl Relikh from Belarus, who recently beat undefeated Cuban Rances Barthemlemy for the vacant WBA title, WBC interim champion Regis Prograis who recently obliterated former titleholder Julius Indongo in 2 rounds, the full WBC title is now held by Jose Ramirez who impressively defeated Amir Imam March 17. There is the IBF champion Mikey Garcia who recently bested Sergey Lipinets in a 12 round decision. With that being said, Mikey will likely return to the 135 division for a possible showdown with the Lomachenko vs Linares winner. Ever since Terence Crawford moved up to welterweight (147 pounds) the division is wide open and competitive with all titles changing in ownership within the last 2 month besides the WBO belt, which is currently vacant.

Julian’s next fight is to be determined as he recently had a minor procedure on his wrist, sidelining him for a little bit. We hope everything heals perfectly and look forward to seeing him fight soon. Julian has been signed to Top Rank since he went pro and it is definitely a great environment to grow and challenge its stable of fighters. Fighting on the Top Rank cards are great for exposure lately because of Top Rank’s deal with ESPN. All undercard fights are free to watch on ESPN 3 and the ESPN app so it’s very simple to watch Julian’s next fight. Under the Lights looks forward to seeing Julian continue to announce himself to the world with his fan friendly and aggressive boxer puncher style. This will happen sooner rather than later especially since James Prince, who has managed those like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Andre Ward, now also manages Julian. Julian has spoken highly of Prince’s influence on his career already and looks forward to see what the future holds for him.

We wish him all the best and cannot wait to see how his career develops. We look forward to working with him again as he truly enjoys the process of doing media and interviews. He is very friendly and active with his fans so please feel free to follow him on twitter and Instagram and interact with him!

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