Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
WBN Editor
Briton has to retire following thirteenth career defeat
Aged fighter Danny Williams suffered another beat-down in
Germany tonight that will hopefully spell the end of the London-born journeyman’s
17-year stint in the ring.
At his most powerful in 2000, Williams astounded all by
knocking out Mark Potter with one arm to claim the vacant British heavyweight
belt, but that memory is now becoming ever-more distant with each unnecessary
bout.
At 39, Williams last fought to his full potential when
taking Matt Skelton’s undefeated record in 2006 and is increasingly becoming
fodder for young European fighters to claim a name on their record.
After losing his British boxing license in 2010 and
contemplating hanging up his gloves for a full six months, Williams came back
with the blessing of the Latvian commission to relaunch himself comically as 'DPW.'
Since then, victories over cruiserweight Frank Roth, Laszlo
Toth and a 47 year-old Alfred Cole have only masked Williams’ inability to
compete at anywhere near the level needed as the Briton crashed to
three bad stoppages losses from four.
Tonight’s opponent Romanian-born Christian Hammer, whilst being nowhere
near world level, had Williams on the floor in the first round and the writing
was once again on the wall for the one-time world title challenger.
Hammer, 25, was easily able to keep Williams at bay with his
own shots and continually hurt his opponent throughout the fight until a combination of shots in the
fourth prompted Paul Thomas to halt the action.
At no point in the fight did Williams look able to score the
win and Hammer claimed the WBO European title along with the name that comes
with a man who once knocked out Mike Tyson.
Let’s hope the ‘Brixton Bomber’ can now reach the right
decision and bow out of the sport before someone takes the decision out of his hands.