At last Paul Williams was going to
get his big break. Ever since his first fight in
July of 2000, Williams has made a pledge to
himself that someday he would be champion of the
world. Fast forward almost ten years later, and
"The Punisher" could finally feel the elusive
prize within his grasp. The only man standing in
the way of his dreams was one Kelly Pavlik, and
as notable pugilists such as Edison Miranda and
former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor have
already found out, accomplishing this mission
would be no easy task.
Pavlik's spectacular rise to the
top of the middleweight ladder was finally
cultivated in September of 2007 when he rose
like a phoenix off the canvas to knockout Little
Rock, Arkansas' own Jermain Taylor. Pavlik's
astonishing knockout over Taylor in the seventh
round was sure to be, in many boxing fans minds,
the genesis of a very entertaining and
successful title reign for boxing's latest star.
Fate, however, would take a much different toll
on young Pavlik's career. After a knockout win
over the unheralded Gary Lockett, Pavlik chose
to fight the crafty, former middleweight
champion Bernard Hopkins at a catch-weight of
170 pounds. So what if he was the middleweight
champion of the world for ten years? Hopkins was
way past his prime, and the younger Pavlik would
simply overwhelm "old man" Hopkins. Everyone
figured that by this point, Hopkins' career was
over, and that "The Executioner" was doing
nothing more than conjuring up illusions of
grandeur in order to sell the fight. Everyone,
apparently, figured wrong. After twelve brutal
and frustrating rounds, Hopkins had won the
fight, and thus proved to the boxing community
at large that he was still one of the best in
the game. And Pavlik? He was left to ponder how
he could salvage a career that was heading in a
disastrous direction.
Paul Williams is not your average
fighter, to say the least. At six feet one, this
former welterweight had sports writers and
boxing fans alike wondering if Williams had
somehow gotten a hold of Tommy Hearns' DNA. This
giant southpaw has often been referred to as the
most avoided fighter in boxing today, and with
good reason. Williams often towered above his
welterweight opponents, and displayed solid,
well-rounded boxing skills to boot. After his
first defeat at the hands of Carlos Quintana in
February of 2004 by decision, Williams set about
a plan of revenge that culminated with an
astounding first round knockout of Quintana in
the rematch in June of 2008, and the WBO
welterweight title around his waist. By this
point, however, Williams was running out of
meaningful opponents who were willing to step up
to the plate and put their own records, as well
as personal well being, on the line against him.
It was at this point in his career that Williams
chose to jump ship to the middleweight division,
and wasted little time in challenging Verno
Phillips for the WBO interim junior middleweight
title in late 2008. After eight rounds, doctors
determined that Phillips had had enough. And
with that, Paul Williams had officially put the
middleweight division on notice that he had
arrived. After a major victory over the
defense-savvy Ronald "Winky" Wright, the stage
was seemingly set for "The Ghost" and "The
Punisher" to do battle for middleweight
supremacy in boxing's second most lucrative
division.
The date was set for October
3rd, 2009 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The buzz
surrounding the fight from the get-go was filled
with excitement and speculation. Yes, Pavlik was
the champion, but did he have enough fuel left
in his tank after his defeat at the hands of
Bernard Hopkins to stop such a powerful foe as
Paul Williams? All the elements that were to
make this bout a "fight of the year" candidate
were present; well, except for one element in
particular. When it was discovered that Pavlik
had contracted a staph infection in his knuckle,
the bout was rescheduled for December 5th.
Boxing fans had been holding their collective
breath in anticipation of this fight, but it
seemed as though they would just have to display
patience and hold it a little longer. Scratch
that, make it s lot longer. With just six weeks
left till fight night, the fight was cancelled
on account of Pavlik's injury still being
considered too severe for him to fight.
Will Paul Williams EVER get
his chance to sit in the middleweight throne?
Only time and fate will be able to answer that
question in the confines of a sport that can be
as unpredictable as it is brutal. And with the
proposed bout with Kelly Pavlik now nothing more
than a relic of the past, Paul Williams has
wasted little time in challenging current WBC
super welterweight champion Sergio Martinez to a
fight. With only one month's notice, Martinez
has accepted the fight, although it will not be
for the WBC championship. With only one loss on
his record, to Antonio Margarito no less,
Martinez isn't exactly a pushover himself. It
remains to be seen though if his lack of time to
prepare for the bout will be enough to keep him
from presenting an adequate challenge to the
most avoided pugilist in the game today.
As for Kelly Pavlik? He'll
have his chance to shine as well when he squares
off against Miguel Angel Espino on December 19th
in Pavlik's hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.
However, with losses to the likes of Peter
Manfredo Jr. and Daniel Edouard on his record,
the odds of this former "Contender" contestant
walking into the lions den and taking the WBC
and WBO titles from Pavlik, staph infection not
withstanding, seems like an insurmountable task.
Perhaps Pavlik and Williams
will fight one day, but for now, all we as
boxing fans can do is continue to demand fights
from the powers that be that are meaningful and
evenly-matched. Doing so will, more than likely,
help to dig boxing out of the "special interest"
hole it has dug for itself in recent times.
Significant fights in every weight class will
not only satisfy the insatiable appetite of long
time boxing fans, but will help bring new fans
to the sport as well. Because honestly, Manny
Pacquiao can't do it all by himself, or can he?
