When two above average fighters can’t seem to
find any takers, they do the only thing they
can do, and that is to fight each other. Tonight in
Atlantic City, New Jersey, Paul Williams and Sergio
Williams fought a surprisingly excellent fight.
The fight started with both men
hitting the canvas in the first round. Martinez was
sent down first but being off balance played a bigger
part in the knockdown than Paul's punch. Martinez
sprung to his feet and later in the round sent
Williams down with a hard right hook. Martinez made
Williams look silly in the second round dominating
with his right hook that constantly landed on
Williams' head. Paul Williams would make the proper
adjustments and once again apply massive pressure to
Martinez throughout the fight.
As the fight went into the middle
rounds Martinez was still landing the harder punches
but Williams constant pressure was starting to take
its toll on Martinez. Equal back and forth
exchanges made many of the rounds hard to score. Going
into the championship rounds it appeared it was still
either man's fight and both fought with the guts and
determination of a true champion.
As the final bell rung both men
were visibly tired while Paul Williams wore the face
of a beaten fighter with cuts and swelling around the
eyes. As you see often in boxing the bloody face of a
fighter doesn't always mean a losing fighter.
Before the scorecards were read I
knew the fight could have easily gone to either man
and I would have had no problem with the fight being a
draw. The first scorecard read 114-114. I had no
problem with that; I also found no problem with
115-113 in favor of Williams, but the final scorecard
of 119-110 is criminal. 119-110? What fight was
judge Pierre Benoist watching? How could he only
find one round to give Martinez? This man should not
be allowed to be within 50 feet of a boxing ring and
in no way should he ever have an official scorecard in
front of him ever again.
Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez
fought a hell of a fight tonight and should be
applauded for their performance. If no one wants to
fight either man, I would welcome a rematch, and I
don't think any true boxing fan would argue with that.
Paul Williams should drop the nickname "The Punisher"
and become Paul "Pressure" Williams.
Heavyweight contender Chris Arreola
fought a very game Brian Minto. Arreola, the much
bigger man used his size and skill advantage to stop
Minto in the fourth round . To Minto's credit he tried
his best and landed a number of flush shots to the
iron chinned Arreola before being sent to the canvas
twice forcing the referee to call a halt to the match.
After the fight when asked about
his weight, by way of an explanation Arreola candidly
said he gets hungry at night. So he does what most of
us do when we get hungry, he eats. Arreola wants badly
to have another crack at the heavyweight title but I
really don’t think he has the dedication to become a
champion. You know what a champion does at night when
he gets hungry? He doesn’t eat! He suffers knowing
that his dedication will pay off. Until Chris Arreola
starts acting like a champion, he’ll remain a
contender.
