After interviewing Paul Williams earlier week, I immediately wrote an article predicting a Sergio Martinez win. Nevermind waiting for how both men looked at the weigh-in, or taking another look at their epic first fight. Paul Williams answer to a question I asked told me all I needed to know about his chances last night (November 20). And that answer was his stubborn refusal to work on his defensive skills.
In their first fight, Sergio Martinez bounced repeated left hooks off Williams’ head. In many rounds, the Punisher resembled a pinata being smacked from pillar to post. Even though he squaeked by with a controversial decision, you would think any fighter would want to minimize the amount of punishment they’d take in a rematch. But when I asked Paul about tightening up his defense, he brushed my concern away as unnecessary.
“Nah, we’re going to do the same thing in this fight we always do. No different at all,” Williams declared.
Looking at Williams last night, splayed face down on the canvas with his eyes staring into the beyond, the old sports adage of “defense wins championships” sprang to mind. Usually that quote is reserved for sports like basketball and football. But in a game where good defense means less punches to the face, it’s even more essential to longevity in this sport. Williams, like many young fighters who’ve never been seriously hurt, thought he was invincible. Yes, he’s been rocked before. But until last night, no one had ever separated him completely from his senses. It was a painful lesson to learn.
So what’s next for the man once touted as the most feared and avoided in the game? The answer lies with his trainer George Peterson. Peterson has taken his man far in boxing. Paul Williams isn’t a crossover star, but he’s a HBO regular who’s normally in exciting fights. But now they’ve reached a crossroads. Paul Williams is no longer feasting on past prime fighters like Sharmba Mitchell and Winky Wright. Nor is he taking on solid, but second-tier fighters Carlos Quintana. Guys like Kermit Cintron and Sergio Martinez are the elite of their divisions, and each one buckled Williams with their counters shots. Peterson is now entrusted with the task of trying to teach Paul Williams to use his height and not subscribe exclusively to the “my offense is my defense” mantra.
Can Peterson do it? He doesn’t have a track record with that style, but that’s not to say he isn’t capable of bringing back a refined Paul Williams. If not, Emmanuel Steward is just a phone call way. Steward has made a career of breathing life into fighters who’ve needed new direction after a devastating losses, including Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko, and recently Miguel Cotto. Williams isn’t Tommy Hearns by any stretch of the imagination, but Steward has shown a fondness for Williams during HBO telecasts, and would jump at the opportunity to work with a fighter whose height has been estimated between 6’1 to 6’3, and with a reach of 82 inches.
Until his next fight, you’re going to read a lot of comments on boxing message boards about Paul Williams being exposed and having no chin. It’s more accurate to say his glaring weakness was exploited by a world-class fighter. And it was executed in a way no one else has ever done. Paul Williams’s career is not over by stretch of the imagination. He’s an exciting fighter ,who at 29 years of age, is still one of the younger, name contenders between 154 and 160 pounds.
This loss will test the Punisher’s mental and physical fortitude. Will he push immediately for a trilogy with Martinez? Renegotiate with Kelly Pavlik? Rematch Kermit Cintron? Take a tune up? Whichever option Paul Williams decides, you can be sure that his next bout will show if he’s truly championship material.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 