NEW YORK – A persistent, strong, youthful Yoenis Tellez added the most noteworthy name to his list of conquests Saturday night.

The emerging Cuban junior middleweight busted up former unified 154-pound champ Julian Williams and won their 12-round bout by unanimous decision in the pay-per-view opener on the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach undercard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Judges Tony Paolillo (119-109), Robert Perez (117-111) and Waleska Roldan (118-110) scored Tellez the winner by big margins.

Tellez (10-0, 7 KOs) won the WBA interim super welterweight title. Terence Crawford is the WBA’s true champion and Jermell Charlo is its 154-pound champion in recess, despite that the Houston native hasn’t competed in the 154-pound division in almost three years.

Williams, 34, fought for just the second time since he lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Carlos Adames in their 12-round fight Adames’ WBC middleweight title in June 2023 at The Armory in Minneapolis. Philadelphia’s Williams (29-5-1, 17 KOs) is 2-4 in his six fights since he upset Jarrett Hurd by split decision to win the IBF, IBO and WBA 154-pound championships in May 2019 in Fairfax, Virginia.

The 24-year-old Tellez tried to record a knockout right up until the final bell range Saturday night. The gritty Williams was able, though, to make it to the final bell of a one-sided contest.

A right uppercut by Tellez rocked Williams with under 20 seconds on the clock in the 11th round.

Tellez tattooed Williams with two right hands that snapped back Williams’ head a little less than a minute into the 10th round. Williams weathered that barrage, but he resorted strictly to survival mode by that point in their fight.

Williams showed signs of fight with just under a minute to go in the ninth round. Tellez unloaded right hands on him, only to have Williams catch the aggressor with right hands of his own.

Swelling showed beneath both of Williams’ eyes by the eighth round. Tellez pressured him again for those three minutes and caused Williams to cover up when he didn’t occasionally flick jabs at him.

A short left by Tellez got Williams’ attention with just under 1:40 on the clock in the seventh round.

An assertive Tellez pressed the action in the fifth and sixth rounds, when Williams tried at times to move out of range of his right hand. Tellez’s strength advantage made it difficult for Williams to keep the fresher fighter off of him.

Tellez nailed Williams with a right as Williams attempted to spin his way ouff the ropes with just over a minute to go in the fourth round.

Tellez’s right uppercut awakened Williams with just under 1:40 to go in the third round. Williams, suddenly bleeding from a cut beneath his right eye, fired punches back to try to halt Tellez’s momentum.

Williams pumped his jab during the first and second rounds, when he boxed off his back foot and tried to stay away from Tellez’s right hand. His strategy mostly worked, though Williams rarely remained in position long enough to land counter punches as Tellez came forward.