Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
‘Punisher’ can’t be judged on his last three fights
It wasn’t long ago that boxing fans and pundits alike were raving about how good Paul Williams was after his two-year purple patch in which he beat Antonio Margarito, Carlos Quintana (in a rematch), Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright and Sergio Martinez between 2007 and 2009.
Since then, the former WBO welterweight champion has out-boxed Kermit Cintron in a farcial four-rounder, lost spectacularly to a sweet overhand left by Sergio Martinez and look laboured and disinterested in losing to Erislandy Lara last Saturday night.
It now seems that the 29 year-old Georgian is ready for the scrap heap after the lost at least a four-round decision to Erislandy Lara at the Boardwalk Hall and people are even talking about retirement for a man that has two (should be three) losses in 42 bouts.
Granted it was a poor performance by Williams, who had been out of the ring a full eight months since his shocking second round loss to Martinez at the same venue and in my personal opinion, the Georgian should have taken longer out of the game to get his head around that damaging left hand that put him out for much longer than the count.
Add to that all the shocking high definition photographs that immediately were sent whizzing around the internet to every point across the globe and it has to mess with a fighters head, even subconsciously. Williams maybe should have taken a year or longer, as he is still only young in boxing terms and then came back fully recharged and ready to go.
Williams looked disorganised and like he was running on half power in Atlantic City and was extremely lucky (to say the least) to gain the victory decision. It is possible he was pushed in to fighting by people around him or may had monetary family reasons for getting back in the ring, but to me, he certainly did not want to be in that ring at that time.
He now finds himself backed into a corner where the only way out is to give Erislandy Lara a much-deserved rematch within the next six months to calm all the hysteria down and get some of his reputation back. But to call for his retirement is totally unfounded and I think when he gets his head straight (in boxing terms), Paul Williams will once again be back to his best and will be a world champion again.
WBN Editor
It wasn’t long ago that boxing fans and pundits alike were raving about how good Paul Williams was after his two-year purple patch in which he beat Antonio Margarito, Carlos Quintana (in a rematch), Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright and Sergio Martinez between 2007 and 2009.
Since then, the former WBO welterweight champion has out-boxed Kermit Cintron in a farcial four-rounder, lost spectacularly to a sweet overhand left by Sergio Martinez and look laboured and disinterested in losing to Erislandy Lara last Saturday night.
It now seems that the 29 year-old Georgian is ready for the scrap heap after the lost at least a four-round decision to Erislandy Lara at the Boardwalk Hall and people are even talking about retirement for a man that has two (should be three) losses in 42 bouts.
Granted it was a poor performance by Williams, who had been out of the ring a full eight months since his shocking second round loss to Martinez at the same venue and in my personal opinion, the Georgian should have taken longer out of the game to get his head around that damaging left hand that put him out for much longer than the count.
Add to that all the shocking high definition photographs that immediately were sent whizzing around the internet to every point across the globe and it has to mess with a fighters head, even subconsciously. Williams maybe should have taken a year or longer, as he is still only young in boxing terms and then came back fully recharged and ready to go.
Williams looked disorganised and like he was running on half power in Atlantic City and was extremely lucky (to say the least) to gain the victory decision. It is possible he was pushed in to fighting by people around him or may had monetary family reasons for getting back in the ring, but to me, he certainly did not want to be in that ring at that time.
He now finds himself backed into a corner where the only way out is to give Erislandy Lara a much-deserved rematch within the next six months to calm all the hysteria down and get some of his reputation back. But to call for his retirement is totally unfounded and I think when he gets his head straight (in boxing terms), Paul Williams will once again be back to his best and will be a world champion again.