Paul Williams - Sergio Martinez II Aftermath
Paul Williams - Sergio Martinez II Aftermath
by Andrew Schweitzer
First of all, I couldn't believe that Williams, who took all of Antonio Margarito's best shots (Plaster in the gloves or not) and seemed to have a reputation of possessing an iron chin could go down and not get up.
Second, the shot of Williams face, glued to the canvas with his eyes open like he had just taken a bullet to the head was just haunting and will be one of the more memorable images in knockout highlight reels as well as avatars on internet boxing forums.
Ever since that short fight last week, I just couldn't get the last ten seconds out of my mind and I'm not the only one if you've been reading the forums. And since I love to add fuel to a fire, here are my thoughts on that fight and the aftermath it will have on the sport.
1. Williams Fought the Same Fight - I'm a big Paul Williams fan and I'd probably rank him as one of my favourite fighters out there today. However for every interview he did, he kept insisting that he wasn't doing anything special to train for a rematch of the hardest fight of his career (A fight which I had Williams winning by one point). Either he was trying to play some sort of psychological warfare or he was being honest. I think he was being honest and I think it showed.
For such a tall guy, Williams doesn't really use his height or his reach. If you listen to him talk about fighting, he likes to get in there and trade because he wants to put on a good show and give the fans something they'll remember. One thing Williams has to learn is that it's OK to box every once in a while. Look at Tommy Hearns for an example of this.
I'm not jumping on the bandwagon of those insisting that Williams needs to hire a new trainer (everyone keeps mentioning Emanuel Steward - most likely due to his work with Hearns) but at the same time, I hope that he and his team put an emphasis on defense in the future.
I've talked with Justin, the owner of this site, and he agrees that anyone who took the shot that Sergio Martinez landed on Williams would have been dropped in the same manner. This wasn't a glancing blow that looked like it had the impact of a snowball, it was a cannonball of a left hand that would have knocked the head off of any non-boxer unfortunate to fall victim to it. Now if Williams happens to get knocked out in his next fight against, say, Yuri Foreman (Who has only 8 KO's in 28 victories)... then you can start throwing stones at a glass chin.
3. Sergio Martinez is now The Man... Who No One Will Go Near - Yes, Paul Williams had the reputation of being the most avoided/feared man in boxing and constantly complained about not getting big fights. Imagine how hard it's going to be for the guy who just knocked him out!
Yes, everybody and their mother wants to see either Manny Pacquiao (who just won Martinez' vacated Junior Middleweight title) or Floyd Mayweather Jr. get in the ring with the Middleweight Champion and see what happens.
Now, if you think that Mayweather will be willing to get into the ring with Martinez after last Saturday... I don't want to offend you but... I'm not going to say you're an idiot... but its very idiotic to think that Floyd will ever fight Martinez.
