Middleweights Paul Williams (39-2, 27 KO's)
and Sergio Martinez are two of the best fighters in boxing.
At six feet, three inches tall, (but
listed at six-one) Williams towers over most of the
competition as he fights, anywhere from 147 to 160. He seems
comfortable in the 154 pound division and I doubt anyone in
any of the three divisions that can beat him -except for
Sergio Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KO's), who is very athletic and an
excellent mobile boxer-puncher that can give and take a good
shot too without crumbling.
The last time Paul "The Punisher" Williams
fought was in a strange match against Kermit Cintron. It was
strange in that early in the fourth round, Cintron fell out of
the ring and hurt himself from the fall. I figured that if
Cintron didn't return to the ring in the allotted time, the
fight would be ruled a No Contest but stranger still, (maybe
not so strange for boxing) was that the fight was ruled a
Technical Decision Win for Williams. Usually, if an accident
occurs and one fighter cannot continue for health reasons
before the fourth round is completed, the fight is deemed a No
Contest. Four rounds had not been
completed and Cintron was unable to continue due to injury,
which was not caused by a Williams's punch. Either way,
Williams got the win.
Before Williams fought Cintron, he fought
Sergio Martinez in December of 2009, in that fight where both
guys had some good moments. They traded knockdowns in the
first round, Williams scored the first one and Martinez
responded in kind almost immediately after. That was a good
competitive fight that could've been decided either way,
depending on how you score a round. Being a big fan of both
fighters it wasn't too hard to notice that Martinez landed
more and had the better ring generalship and defensive agility
all night. A rematch was inevitable after Williams was granted
the win compliments of two of the three Judges.
Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in
Atlantic City, NJ, Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez were at
it again, only this time, the Judges would have no part in the
results.
The first round saw Paul Williams setting
the tone, jabbing and throwing combinations. Williams threw
the first punch. It was a fast start and both guys looked to
be looking for the knockout early. There
were some wild moments and the ref had to break them often.
Both landed some shots, as Williams was doing most of the
initiating. Martinez was able to land a good left to the body
midway into the round. Then Martinez landed a big combo
upstairs in the corner. Martinez held while Williams pressed,
then Martinez landed a right and left upstairs. With 30
seconds to go, Williams did more punching, though Martinez
landed fewer but cleaner shots. At one
point, both landed nearly simultaneous right hooks, stunning
each other just a bit. Williams was establishing a good
working distance, utilizing his arms' length and speed. It was an action packed round.
Martinez landed less but threw some of the cleaner punches,
namely a left hook combination that landed flush. 10-9
Williams.
In Williams corner, his trainer said, "Good
work. Give more head movement and some uppercuts."
In Martinez' corner, his trainer told him
that "Williams' hands were hurting, be patient."
Round 2
In the second round, things started off
with some awkward holding that looked like wrestling with
punches. Williams went into long mode, extending his long jabs
to keep Martinez where he wanted him. Martinez moved inside,
defiantly pressing the issue with punches, mostly hooks that
Williams was open for while his long jabbing arm was extended.
The ref struggled to get them to stop clinching but Martinez
wanted to be inside and Williams was punching with his free
arm and happy to comply. Martinez landed a clean left to the
face that stung Williams, who moved in, clinched and then the
ref broke them. Martinez threw a left hook that landed on the
side of his Williams head as he was facing right. With that
punch that Williams never saw coming, boom with 1:10 seconds
into the second round, it was over. Martinez
shot knocked Williams out cold.
* *
It was scary seeing Paul Williams laying
there for more than sixty seconds. A crowd of people encircled
him and after about 45 seconds, Williams suddenly appeared to
'wake up' and was helped to his feet. He seemed a bit shaken
but okay.
Martinez people celebrated the win, placing
a crown on his head. Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez retained his
WBC Middleweight title and enjoyed a moment with the cheering
crowd.
During the post fight interviews, Martinez
was asked what he wants, alluding to his possible interest in
fighting boxing's biggest Pay Per View cash cows in Floyd
Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao.
Martinez said, "I want to hear offers and
see how that goes."
HBO's Max Kellerman pressed the question
again, with more emphasis on the what to YOU want.
Martinez said, "I want to relax for a
little bit but now I want to salute Paul Williams, a great
fighter." Then he embraced Williams, who was approaching the
scene. Martinez tapped on Williams' chest, indicating respect
for his big heart. Williams had to be feeling the sting of the
loss but was gracious and showed equal respect for Martinez.
Kellerman to Martinez: Do you want to fight
Mayweather or Pacquiao at a catch weight? How low can you go
(in weight)?
Martinez said, "I have no problem making
weight but 156 is a good weight for me. But I'll listen to the
offers." He then thanked the fans and his family.
Then Kellerman addressed Williams: "What
happened?"
Williams said, "I don't know. He just
caught me with a clean shot. I felt good; he just caught me
with a punch I didn't see. That's the way the cookie crumbles,
he just caught me with one I didn't see."
Congrats to both guys for a great fight,
short as it was. Sometimes all it takes is one good clean
punch to win a fight.
Regarding Kellerman's question, who really
believes Floyd would fight Sergio? C'mon, let's be realistic.
Floyd never fights top fighters who are in their prime and
especially if they are particularly dangerous. He did all he
could to successfully destroy his set fight against Manny
Pacquiao, by insisting on all kinds of testing for steroids
that Manny wasn't comfortable with and seemed intended to
insure the fight didn't happen and sure enough, it didn't.
Unlike Floyd, Manny Pacquiao appears more
interested in fighting whoever his promoter puts in front of
him but his last few fights have been against former titlists
and fighters ripe for a career ender, like Oscar De La Hoya,
Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, the listless Joshua Clottey and
lastly, the man who was banned from boxing for allegedly
stuffing his gloves in Antonio Margarito, who is just too slow
to keep up with the Filipino Dynamo. How does the best fighter
in all of boxing only fight ‘past their prime' opponents on
Pay Per View? It doesn't make sense. It's killing boxing. Who
wants to pay 60 bucks to see a fight where you know who's
going to win?
Everyone wanted to see Floyd vs. Manny
BECAUSE they wanted the answer to that very question.
Unfortunately, Floyd didn't have the stones for it and
sabotaged the deal with his imposition of new rules that Manny
didn't feel was appropriate. Sure, drug testing fighters is a
good thing but the rules shouldn't be changed to accommodate
one fighter. I wonder what would've happened next if Manny
agreed to all the tests Floyd wanted him to take. Maybe he
would've torn a muscle in training and the fight would've been
rescheduled over and over into oblivion.
That Manny would turn down something like 40 million dollars
because of random drug testing does raise a few eyebrows
though. But Floyd doesn't make the rules of boxing.
I believe that Manny would willingly fight
Martinez. If Martinez did fight Manny Pacquiao and Pacquiao
were able to beat a man who has beaten top guys consistently
and appears at the top of his game at 35 years old, then this
fight fan would agree that Manny Pacquiao is the best overall
fighter of this era. He certainly is one of the best as it
stands but without a legitimate ranking system that determines
legitimate competition, based on merit, instead of commerce,
we will never really know.
Congratulations to Sergio Martinez, a true
warrior.
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