Junior middleweight titleholder Jermall Charlo and Julian Williams didn’t agree on much during a conference call to hype their Dec. 10 fight on Showtime at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles. The two bickered on the line after a contentious build-up to make a deal for the bout.

But they both paid tribute to the popular cut man Todd Harlib, who died earlier this week. Harlib was the cut man for Charlo, and Charlo said he planned to dedicate his fight with Williams to his memory. “Like Julian said, Todd was my man,” Charlo said on Wednesday. “His family and everyone who crossed paths with him, my condolences.” He added later in the call, “Todd taught me a lot. He meant a lot to me. I just spoke to him a couple days ago. I knew he went to Russia and caught a little bug but I just prayed for him and hoped he got better. Yes, I’m dedicating this fight to Todd.”

Williams (22-0-1, 14 knockouts) started the call by paying his respects. Ronnie Shields, who trains Charlo, told RingTV.com that Harlib had been Charlo’s cut man for two years. He heard that Harlib may have suffered a heart attack on Monday, though he wasn’t entirely certain if that was the cause of death. Shields gave Harlib’s age as 44. Richard Schaefer, the co-promoter of the Dec. 10 show, said he passed away on Tuesday as he offered his condolences on the call. While Williams and Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) squabbled on Wednesday, they also spoke movingly of Harlib.

“I want to send my thoughts and prayers out to my guy, Todd Harlib,” Williams said. “He was a great cut man and even a better guy. I consider him as a friend. It’s a sad day in boxing.” Shields said that Harlib was supposed to travel to Houston to visit his camp on Wednesday. “I spoke with Todd last week and he just got back from Pakistan (for a fight),” Shields said in a phone interview. “He called me when he got back. He had a little cough. I asked if he was OK and he said yeah. He was talking about coming down for a while. I said, ‘Just let me know.’ He was going to try to come out on Wednesday, and this happened.”

Shields described Harlib as the type of personality who got along with everyone. “Todd is kind of guy if you can’t get along with Todd, you can’t get along with anybody,” he said. “He was a people person; he loved everybody. He was just a genuinely great guy.”

Welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. was among the other fighters who Harlib worked with. Spence paid his respects to Harlib on social media in a series of tweets. “RIP to my cutman/friend,” Spence wrote. “One of the good stand up guys in the sport of boxing!! Todd was known for helping fighters since I was an amateur without any invested interest…Don’t think it really hit me your gone…probably won’t until I get in the locker room and your not there…rest easy bro!.”

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