By Jake Donovan

From the moment he kicked in the door to arrive on the super welterweight title scene, Julian Williams has struggled to find a willing contender to move that one step closer.

The unbeaten 25-year old Philly-bred boxer is now suddenly met with multiple opportunities and a rare scenario where he's forced to leave a fight on the table.

Next up for Williams (21-0-1, 13KOs) will be a title eliminator with Italy's Marcello Matano, for the number-one spot in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super welterweight rankings. The date and venue are forthcoming, with the winner to become the mandatory challenger to reigning unbeaten titlist Jermall Charlo.

In accepting the fight, Williams will likely be removed from a proposed series of bouts the World Boxing Council (WBC) has classified as a tournament. According to the WBC announcement, Williams was due to face Vanes Martirosyan in a fight that would've led to another scheduled matchup without any guarantee that a title shot would come in 2016.

Given that scenario coupled with his having been out of the ring since a 1st round knockout over Lucian Cuello last September, the hard choice was made to move forward with his career and move that much closer to his first title shot.

“We were supposed to fight Michel Soro on January 16th in the original plans,” Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, Williams' trainer explained to BoxingScene.com of his fighter’s path towards title contention. “When that fight fell through, the IBF kept moving forward with proposed eliminators.

“Once we got word that Marcello Matano was willing to take the fight, we sat down and decided that's the road we want to go down. Jermall Charlo is one of the best (super welterweights) in the world and that's the fight we wanted all this time. This fight (with Matano), a win puts us in that spot to force a mandatory and get Charlo.”

The 29-year old Matano (15-1, 6KOs) has won four straight following the lone loss of his career. His most recent performance came in his birth town of Ferrara, Emilia Romagna, Italy, scoring a 12-round decision over Nick Clappert last October for his third win on the year.

The 12 rounds of action Matano enjoyed less than three months ago is more than the combined total of ring time Williams has seen in the past nine months. The throwback fighter was taken 10 rounds by Joey Hernandez last April, but has since scored quick hits over Arman Ovsepyan (TKO6 in June) and Cuello (TKO1), with the past four months spent watching an assortment of contenders in the IBF rankings turn down the opportunity to face him for various reasons.

Among the few willing to face him was Martirosyan, a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxer who for the better part of his pro career has hovered around the lower part of any consensus Top 10 super welterweight rankings. Their initial plans to fight for an IBF eliminator eventually fell through, but the matchup was resurrected in the proposed WBC “tournament.”

Whereas the matchup would once put the winner directly in a title shot, the winner here would have to then fight at least two more fights before becoming WBC mandatory contender.

Meanwhile, at least two more WBC title fights will have taken place by that point, including a vacant title tilt between Jermell Charlo – Jermall’s twin brother – and John Jackson right from the outset.

While Williams – a WBC Continental Americas champ – is moving on, he and his team have no intention of leaving the WBC behind. No stranger to putting in hard work, he aspires to take on the very best, a vision that won't change as he enters the title picture.

“Julian is extremely grateful for what the WBC has provided for his career, as well as considering him for this tournament,” explains Edwards. “He was very appreciative of fighting for the WBC Continental Americas title, which he proudly defended twice.”

“Right now, we’re in position to go after the IBF title and appreciate that (Matano) is willing to take this fight to become the mandatory challenger. Once we get that IBF championship, Julian will gladly enter a unification bout with the WBC world champion by that point. Julian wants to go into the Hall of Fame one day. Winning the WBC title is a big part of those plans.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox