by David P. Greisman (photo credit to HBO)

Antonio Margarito, surprisingly, is the grand prize jackpot, and Paul Williams may just be the man holding the winning ticket.

In a division that houses Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather, Ricky Hatton, Arturo Gatti and will soon see the return of Shane Mosley, all it took was the $8 million offer made to Mayweather by Margarito’s promoter, Bob Arum, and the status quo changed.

Those seven digits turned Margarito from a high-risk low-reward welterweight to the destination for gold prospectors, and Mayweather’s denial created the opportunity for others to sift for nuggets lesser in size but still valuable.

“Bob Arum could offer me 10 percent of what he offered Mayweather and I’ll come knock [Margarito] out for that,” said former Contender contestant Ishe Smith to one Web site. Smith, suddenly, was one of a handful of fighters calling Margarito out, but the $800,000 he requested and the possibility of a match-up were both merely pipe dreams.

Whether conducted through a press release or in an interview, calling out a target without extending a contract offer is mostly a publicity stunt, and denying a bout – supposedly the desired result of said stunt – does not always amount to ducking a fighter.

Rather, a fight opportunity should result from accomplishment, reputation or possibility. Those citing Margarito’s lack of accomplishment as the primary reason he does not deserve to face Mayweather are ignoring his past inability to get name opponents in the ring, a conundrum based on his reputation and the possible results.

That, however, is a topic that’s beyond having been talked to death by pundits, both professional and amateur.

Nonetheless, Paul “The Punisher” Williams wants Margarito, a point he emphasized after knocking out Sharmba Mitchell this weekend. Williams’ words are not frivolous chatter, and a potential Margarito-Williams match would neither be unearned by Williams nor undesired by fans.

With Saturday’s win, Williams – already the number one contender to Margarito’s WBO title since his May kayo of Walter Matthysse – earned a spot as the mandatory challenger. And while outpointing Terrance Cauthen and Marteze Logan and then stopping Alfonso Sanchez, Sergio Rios, Matthysse and Mitchell may seem like too little to earn a title shot, Williams counterbalances his limited experience with an abundance of crowd-pleasing offense.

Williams, who averages close to 100 punches per round, uses his 6-foot-1 frame and freakish reach to his advantage. Working behind a busy southpaw jab, he follows with crosses and hooks that drop from above, catching wary, distant opponents with close to the full brunt of his power.

Quite simply, Williams is a rangy volume puncher. So, too, is Margarito. Combining the two is a recipe for delight.

The pair have history together, a fact touched on by Williams in a recent article by Mike Houser of the Nevada Appeal.

“Before his fight with Daniel Santos, we had a sparring session,” Williams told Houser. “I really got on him. I hurt him and his corner stopped it. He said he didn’t want to spar me anymore. I hurt him to the body. It boosted my confidence level higher.”

It’s one thing for a fighter to embellish about sparring. It’s another when there are reliable witnesses who can verify accounts.

“Margarito and Williams exchanged punches for numerous rounds,” wrote David Avila of MaxBoxing in January. “At first it began tenuously, then pride got in the way and that led to some monster punches launched from all angles. The few people at the sparring session nodded their heads at their good fortune to see that action for free.”

Avila’s colleague Doug Fischer – a journalist who visits gyms and has a good eye and mind when it comes to the implications of what he sees – spoke in early 2005 with Los Angeles-based matchmaker Ray Alcorta about the sparring session.

“Williams held his own from the beginning and even got the better of Margarito by their third week of sparring,” said Alcorta, who works with Margarito’s team to bring in sparring partners. “When a fighter can make adjustments against a veteran as tough as Margarito, that’s a sign that he has real potential.”

Fischer reported that Williams was sent home a week early, and speculated from rumors he heard that the dismissal was due to “Williams hurt[ing] Margarito bad enough with a punch to the solar plexus to make the title holder’s handlers end the session.”

But for all the praise and momentum that Williams has garnered, he’s still green and has flaws that can be exploited. Against the southpaw Mitchell, Williams would jab and be caught by right hook counters, and Mitchell’s wide hooks were able to reach upstairs and alight on Williams’ chin.

And in gym sessions against Larry Mosley, Fischer wrote last year that Williams was dominated, as Mosley “often kept Williams off balance with feints followed by accurate lead right hands,” and that Mosley “was also able to get inside Williams’ long reach by fighting out of a crouch then landing punches while blocking or slipping the incoming shots.”

So Williams is vulnerable, but he is also capable. He’s prolific on offense but problematic with defense. And his talking about Margarito may actually lead to action.

With what may be a winning lottery ticket in his hands, Paul Williams is on the fast track to Margarito-ville, but will he cash in or crash and burn?

The 10 Count

1.  My feelings about Evander Holyfield’s stoppage of Jeremy Bates are best summed up by the winner’s initials: eh. Bates was who he was: a ham-and-egger who was easy to hit and flinched from Holyfield’s power after the very first left hook to the body. The problem is that Holyfield may think that he is who he was, but the wipeout of Bates should not recall “The Real Deal” of the nineties, much less the eighties.

2.  Speaking of comebacks, reports are that former junior welterweight king Kostya Tszyu wants to return from the extended layoff that followed his stoppage loss to Ricky Hatton last year. Despite objections from his wife Natasha and trainer Johnny Lewis, Tszyu must feel that he can still be effective, especially as he is supposedly now excusing the Hatton loss as being due to an injured shoulder. Should he truly return, I’ve got two great opponents that could instill confidence in Tszyu: a rematch with Zab Judah and a third go-around with Sharmba Mitchell.

3.  The September heavyweight bout between James Toney and Samuel Peter is approaching rapidly, and I’ve yet to see any reports about the weight of either fighter. Considering that Peter split his pants while outpointing Robert Hawkins last December and then weighed in six pounds heavier for a squash of Julius Long in April, it’s worrisome enough. But throw in Toney’s recent reputation for rolling into the ring looking like he should truly be rolling into the ring, and one begins to hope that a sumo wrestling match doesn’t break out.

4.  Oh, imagine the hilarity that could ensue if Toney was ever cast on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club.

5.  Nicolay Valuev’s heavyweight title defense against Monte Barrett was officially announced last week for Oct. 7 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. I think I speak for most people when I say: yawn. I consider it the walk-out bout for the televised undercard, a rematch of last year’s slobberknocker between Tomasz Adamek and Paul Briggs.

6.  It’s only been off air for one week, but I already miss ESPN2’s Wednesday Night Fights, especially as it was part of a steady, balanced diet of boxing, which includes The Contender on Tuesdays, occasional cards on Outdoor Life Network on Thursdays, ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights and the usual Saturday offerings.

7.  Speaking of which, this coming Saturday will be the first without boxing televised in the United States since April 15, a streak sustained by a few pay-per-view shows but otherwise accomplished by a general dedication to sating the appetites of boxing fans. Of course, it would be nice if Saturday’s middleweight fight in Germany between trinket holder Arthur Abraham and challenger Edison Miranda was broadcast in America.

8.  Instead, the top fight on this side of the pond will be Friday’s bout between first-season Contender champion Sergio Mora and middleweight Eric Regan. The winner gets the right to be shamelessly inserted as many times into future seasons of The Contender as a certain brand of trucks.

9.  Meanwhile on Telefutura, Ishe Smith will face 9-3-2 (6) Gilbert Venegas in what must be part of Golden Boy Promotions’ plan to rebuild Smith by taking the exposure he received from The Contender and combine it with the potential he had shown prior to joining the ranks of reality television, back when he had quality wins over David Estrada and Randall Bailey.

10.  The Contender Update: In week five of Mark Burnett’s boxing reality show, viewers got their first knockout of this second season, as former junior welterweight Michael Stewart – best known for his losses to Sharmba Mitchell and Ricky Hatton – kayoed lightweight contender Ebo Elder.

With six of the eight first-round fights done, six members remain on the blue team: Nick Acevedo, Freddy Curiel, Stewart, Norberto Bravo, Grady Brewer and Cornelius Bundrage.

The gold team, meanwhile, has lost two in a row, dropping their ranks to four members: Gary Balletto, Steve Forbes, Walter Wright and Jeff Fraza.

Six contestants have now advanced to the second round: Bundrage, Bravo, Balletto, Wright, Brewer and Stewart.