Paul Williams
 |
| Statistics |
| Real name |
Paul Williams |
| Nickname(s) |
The Punisher |
| Rated at |
Junior Middleweight |
| Height |
6 ft 1 in. |
| Nationality |
 American |
| Birth date |
July 27, 1981 (1981-07-27) (age 28) |
| Birth place |
Aiken, South Carolina |
| Stance |
Southpaw |
| Boxing record |
| Total fights |
39 |
| Wins |
38 |
| Wins by KO |
27 |
| Losses |
1 |
Paul Williams (born July 27, 1981) is an American boxer and is the former two-time WBO welterweight champion. At 6'1" [1][2], Paul is considered extremely tall for a welterweight. He is also considered by many to be the most "avoided fighter in the world".[3]
Career
Born in Aiken, South Carolina, Williams got his start in boxing from the suggestion of a family friend who saw him fight on a school bus. The driver suggested that he use his energy in the boxing gym at the Aiken Boxing Club, and connected him with a manager and trainer. Williams fought only 20-25 fights as an amateur before turning pro at the age 19.[4]
His debut was in the year 2000, and he is promoted by the Goossens. In 2005 he outpointed former Olympic bronze medalist Terrence Cauthen, and later that year, he knocked out Alfonso Sanchez in 5 rounds. His ESPN debut was a second round knockout of Sergio Rios on Wednesday Night Fights. Williams made his HBO debut against undefeated Walter Matthysse, winning by a tenth round technical knockout. That was followed by a victory over former junior welterweight world champion Sharmba Mitchell. He knocked Mitchell down three times en route to a fourth round TKO.
WBO welterweight title
Williams became the mandatory challenger for WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. The match took place July 14, 2007, in Carson, California, at the Home Depot Center with Williams winning a unanimous decision. Williams fought Carlos Quintana on February 9, 2008 in his first defense of his title. Williams lost to Quintana by decision.
Williams and Quintana had a rematch at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut on June 7, 2008 for the WBO welterweight title. Williams got off to a quick start when a left hand sent Quintana into a daze as several follow-up barrages put Quintana down. He got up, but Williams opened up with dozens of unanswered punches as the referee jumped in to stop the fight while Quintana was going down again.[5]
Williams was rumored to be moving up two weight classes to fight Kelly Pavlik for the WBC Middleweight Title but instead Pavlik has decided to move up two weight classes himself to fight Bernard Hopkins. Williams fought Andy Kolle on September 25. Williams dominated the fight from the start and recorded a first round knockout in 1:37 seconds.
Light middleweight
After failing to secure another meaningful contest at welterweight, Williams vacated his WBO welterweight title in order to fight Verno Phillips for the WBO Interim Junior Middleweight title.
On November 29, 2008, Williams defeated Phillips by way of TKO after 8 rounds after the Doctor stopped the fight. In doing so he secured the WBO interim junior middleweight title.[6]
Middleweight
Williams fought Winky Wright on April 11, 2009, in a 12-round middleweight bout featured on HBO.[7] Williams defeated Wright in a unanimous decision which was not close on the scorecards – two of the three judges gave Williams all but one round while the third scored all 12 rounds for Williams.
Williams is currently preparing to fight middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. The fight will be carried by HBO which put 3.75 million for the fight. The bout was scheduled to take place on October 3, 2009 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[8]. The bout was postponed when it was discovered Pavlik had a staph infection in his knuckle and had been rescheduled for December 5th. However, the bout was called off for a second time just 6 weeks prior to the fight as a result of Pavlik's injury still not being in good enough condition for him to fight[9].
Williams vs Martinez
On December 5th Paul Williams fought Sergio Martinez in a war of a twelve round main event. In the first round Martinez was knocked down due to bad balance and a grazing left hand. In the final seconds of the 1st round though Martinez scored a knockdown of his own over Williams. The next two rounds were heavily in Martinez's favor as he hit Williams with barrages of counter punches. Rounds 4-7 showed Williams coming back effectively landing hard lefts to the head of Martinez. In rounds 8-11 Martinez again confused Williams with using different varieties of punches including; straight lead lefts to the body followed by right hooks to the head and straight lefts to the face. The 12th and final round showed much fatigue in Martinez and Williams but the warriors fought through to the end. Williams won a close majority decision over Martinez with the judges scoring; Pierre Benoist 119-110 for Williams, Lynn Carter 115-113 for Williams and Julie Lederman 114-114. Afterward both fighters expressed interest in a possible rematch.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.hbo.com/boxing/fighters/williams_paul/bio.html
- ^ http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=20755&cat=boxer
- ^ http://www.setanta.com/uk/Articles/other-sports/2008/11/30/Boxing-Williams-Arreola-win/gnid-29482/
- ^ Paul Williams Showtime biography Showtime URL accessed 1 August 2006
- ^ Paul Williams Blows Away Carlos Quintana in One-Round BoxingScene.com URL accessed 9 June 2008.
- ^ http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=41848
- ^ http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=17731
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4366393&name=rafael_dan
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=4583115
External links
