Julian Bridges has risen from a regional fighter to a prospect.
In his fifth pro fight, Bridges upset well-established prospect Jabin Chollet by winning a six-round unanimous decision which was the first fight of the night on the Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia pay-per-view undercard last Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada.
All three judges scored the fight for Bridges, who won a unanimous decision by 59-55, 59-55, and 58-56.
Bridges (5-0, 2 KOs) rolled the dice and won, but will it pay off?
For Bridges, the Chollet fight had to happen as it was a chance at national exposure, which is something he has wanted. It also validated his belief that he has world class potential.
“We took the fight because it was a great opportunity,” Bridges told BoxingScene. “I thought I was a smarter fighter than him and I had a better jab than him. I just felt like I was better than him.”
Now, however, comes the chaos. While Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin had their press conference at the MGM Grand, Bridges was en route to the T-Mobile Arena unsure of his ring walk time. Bridges believed he was going to be fighting at 2 PM local time. He got into the van and headed to the arena at around 10:30 AM believing he would be fighting boredom along with his opponent. Upon entering the van, he learned that he would be fighting in roughly an hour.
“I had the pee test and all that, so I had to wrap my hands, it probably took about 15 minutes to do that,” recalled Bridges. “I had like 10-to-15 minutes to warm up before I was thrown in there to go fight. It was a little rushed.”
This wasn’t the first time Bridges pulled off an upset. He knocked out Allen “Chubby” Medina in his pro debut on a Thompson Boxing card in Sacramento, Calif. The time to prepare for his pro debut was roughly a week, so the fight against Chollet (9-1, 7 KOs) was an eternity by comparison as he had around a month to prepare.
Bridges was a Maui Thai fighter by the age of nine. He moved over to boxing at 14 and trained around David Lopez, the decorated welterweight contender in Oakland, Calif. during his teens, amassing an amateur record of 25-5. Without the major accolades, he had ‘earned his way’ in and that is what he has been doing, taking a blue-collar approach to the sport.
“If I could risk my undefeated record taking a chance like this, I am hoping a promoter could take a risk or a chance on me,” Bridges said.