Can Williams Still Be Great?

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Assuming he suffered no ill effects from that KO:

There isnt a 154 Pounder alive that beats him other than Sergio. Even with Martinez I give Sergio a 60-40 edge. Williams took round 1 with ease but got caught the second round. He stays on his feet he is the only fighter at that weight who can handle Sergio.

[Spray_resistant]

He could still be legend if he wants to but IDK by his comments about leaving the sport soon.

I think he will beat Lara easy Saturday in any case.

[Heeb]

I never really thought Paul Williams was going to be great in the first place. He is (or was) an exciting world class fighter, but he doesn't possess the skill or talent to be a great fighter.

[HandSpeed303]

Assuming he suffered no ill effects from that KO:

There isnt a 154 Pounder alive that beats him other than Sergio. Even with Martinez I give Sergio a 60-40 edge. Williams took round 1 with ease but got caught the second round. He stays on his feet he is the only fighter at that weight who can handle Sergio.

Angulo, Cotto, Canelo, Margarito all get hammered up pretty badly. Especially Cotto and Canelo. I cant say Bobby making the Cotto fight. He didnt want it when Cotto was prime he really doesnt want it now.


Hes in a tough spot. If he dominates Lara NO ONE other than Sergio will have the balls to go after him. If he struggles and still win he can get Vanes, K9, or Dzinznriuk in the ring. If he loses he might as will retire while he still has good health.

I dont see him moving up to 168 anytime soon. Heck he just moved down a division. Hes barely outgrown WW. I cant see that move yet.

With all that said he should try to enforce his number 1 contender status for Alvarezs belt. Or try to fight Angulo which seems like a long shot given his status.

So its either Canelo, K9, Dzinziruk, or Vanes. Not a bad list at all. 3 of those fighters are Champions so I would guess a title shot is next.

Hbo might have their eye on Williams-Dzinziruk that was his Plan B if the Martinez rematch couldnt go down.

Every boxing organization had him Top 10 P4Pound for a reason. The ring had him at 7. A lot of other publications had him at 3-5. A dominating win puts him RIGHT back on the P4P list.

A lot of noob, troll posters treated Paul as if he lost to a bum. Then thy turn around and say Martinez should be P4P number 1 based on that win. He wins hes right back in the thick of things.

No, he didn't...

[Integrital]

He definitely has the heart and will to be great, but I'm getting the feeling his chin may actually be "cracked" or whatever when they're already talking about only letting him fight 3-4 more times. He's not even 30. Makes me wonder what's going on in the gym to make them feel that way.

So no, I don't see him moving forward and fighting however many dozen more times and becoming a really great fighter.

[daggum]

He could still be legend if he wants to but IDK by his comments about leaving the sport soon.

I think he will beat Lara easy Saturday in any case.

he needs to drop to 147 and get a title defense run of like 20 + defenses without facing anyone good. then he's a legend? oh darn i think that only applies if you are in europe.

[Shabba Rank$]

he needs to drop to 147 and get a title defense run of like 20 + defenses without facing anyone good. then he's a legend? oh darn i think that only applies if you are in europe.

****in daggum..

wish I could give u more green k.

[edgarg]

could you see him rolling Lara, meeting Martinez again & beating him, after that being called the most feared man in boxing again, and going on to have battles with guys like Taylor, Abraham, Pavlik, Kirkland, Canelo, Chavez, Cotto, Mayweather, & Pac while doing very well against them?

It wasnt long ago that some thought he was a beast and could either beat all of those guys or give them mad hell. Now its like he fell off the map and is even talking retirment. An impressive win against Lara & he starts to pickup steam again.

Its actually good because I think he can get more bigger fights now because with the Martinez defeat he has to be resigned to the fact of taking less money to get back to the top and alot of guys dont fear him as they once did so they would take that challenge now.

He's in the prime spot to make alot of big things happen but can he get back to the top? Thats if he was really the goods in the 1st place which some dont think he ever was that good. What are you guys thoughts? What do you see happening to him?

He's had over 40 fights and the last 3 have been very "dicey". He hasn't looked good in any of them, nothing special. So he may have arrived past his peak and is on the way down, and needs lesser competition to look good again.

I haven't really been watching Williams although I've heard a lot about him but saw his last 3.fights. I think he was losing against Cintron, but ran into a Tarver special against Martinez, you know the close eye throw a bomb kind of punch, really a lucky punch, which doesn't occur that often. That was the first one I'd seen since Tarver-Jones.

Although Lara has had only 15 fights, who knows what he has ben through in the Cuban Boxing programme, which really turns out pros, not amateurs.

[chiguy91]

pwill said 2 more fights and he's done, so i doubt it, because there's a lot of names in his division that would make great fights and be good wins on his record. just fighting two, maybe even just one since he said he'd like a martinez rematch (and i'd be rooting for martinez), i doubt he can still be what he could've been with the time he's giving himself..

[Rip Chudd]

I never really thought Paul Williams was going to be great in the first place. He is (or was) an exciting world class fighter, but he doesn't possess the skill or talent to be a great fighter.

Yeah I feel the same way man. Also this talk of retirement kind of has me thinking that KO from Martinez has some lingering effects. Never heard the word retirement out of his mouth until that KO. I don't think he's going to be the same fighter, but that's just my opinion. We shall see.