The powerful southpaw admits Adames operated on another level than him throughout their 12-round fight for the Dominican champion’s WBC middleweight title March 21 in Orlando, Florida. The savvy Adames dropped Williams in the second round and beat the Milwaukee native by large margins on all three scorecards (118-108, 117-109, 117-109).

Williams, 30, nonetheless learned invaluable lessons from his first world title bout. He also replaced longtime trainer Kevin Cunningham with Derrick James – most known for helping another left-handed fighter, Errol Spence Jr., become a unified welterweight champ and one of the best boxers in the sport, pound-for-pound.

Despite Adames’ decisive victory over him, Williams (20-2, 13 KOs) believes he can quickly earn another title shot. That’s why he didn’t hesitate to accept a 12-round fight versus Vito Mielnicki Jr. (23-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC) on Friday night at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, near Mielnicki’s hometown of Roseland.

Mielnicki is rated No. 3 by the WBO, No. 7 by the WBA and WBC and No. 9 by the IBF. Williams, meanwhile, is ranked No. 8 by the WBO and No. 10 by the WBC, but he isn’t listed in the top 15 by the IBF or WBA.

“This is why the matchup with Mielnicki is brilliant,” Williams told The Ring. “Because boxing is a numbers game. He is highly ranked. He’s had decent fights, but definitely not the same caliber of fights that I’ve had.”

Williams views his fights against Adames (25-1-1, 18 KOs) and since-crowned WBO super middleweight champ Hamzah Sheeraz (24-0-1, 19 KOs), who stopped him in the 11th round of a competitive fight in June 2024, as experiences that set him apart from Mielnicki. The 24-year-old Mielnicki has beaten undefeated foes in three straight bouts, but Williams is confident he is a much more dangerous opponent than Kamil Gardzielik (20-1, 4 KOs), Samuel Nmomah (21-1, 5 KOs) or Omar Huerta (15-1-1, 13 KOs).

“I do feel like the more experienced guy, as far as who’ve I’ve fought, especially Carlos and Hamzah,” Williams said. “Those two fights make me feel like I’ve seen – and all respect to Vito, because I’ve trained for him like he’s the greatest fighter of all time – but I know that I’ve seen things and experienced things that he just hasn’t.

“And one thing I know about boxing is that experience is a major part of performance because there’s things that won’t shock you. Things that happen in there have taught you things. So, I’m gonna go into this fight with the confidence that I’m the more experienced fighter.”

Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, Williams’ promoter throughout his seven-year pro career, signed Mielnicki two months ago.

He is six years younger than Williams. Mielnicki also had 169 amateur matches, whereas Williams went 42-6 during an amateur career that lasted just three years.

They have been professionals for almost exactly the same amount of time, though, because Mielnicki made his pro debut when he was just 17. He had yet to start his senior year at West Essex High School when he knocked out Tamarcus Smith in the first round of his first professional fight in July 2019 at Prudential Center.

Williams promised during a press conference Wednesday to halt Mielnicki’s march toward a title shot by knocking him out at the same venue. Mielnicki hasn’t lost since James Martin upset him by majority decision in April 2021, in just his ninth professional fight.

DAZN will stream the Williams-Mielnicki match worldwide as a co-feature before former unified heavyweight champ Andy Ruiz Jr. (35-2-1, 22 KOs) opposes Polish contender Damian Knyba (17-1, 11 KOs) in the 12-round main event. TNT will also broadcast both bouts in the United States as part of a show set to start at 8 p.m. ET.

“Winning this fight will put me right back to world championship contention, right back to that conversation of, you know, who can I slide in to have that fight with, to challenge for a belt,” Williams said. “I’m still eyeing all the champions. After winning this fight Friday, I’m definitely going right back for champions.

“This is the fight for me to build right back up to that world champion level. It won’t be any in between from here. It’s just, hey, I’m getting back in that line, putting myself back up in the rankings and then opening up the opportunities to get that world title shot again.”