By Robert Morales

It was Wednesday afternoon, and Paul Williams had just finished a training session near his home in South Carolina. About 10 minutes into a telephone conversation, Williams was asked what would happen if he fought Manny Pacquiao.

"A fight with me and Pacquiao, it would be a good fight for three or four rounds, then I would put him on his head," Willliams said to BoxingScene.com. "That is not me being cocky, just being confident in myself. I'm just going to take him right out of there. As soon as they put the gloves on him, they will take them off.

"No disrespect to Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach. I like them. But if they get in that water, I'm going to blow them right out of it."

For now, it's all just a dream. With Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. apparently dead again, Pacquiao seems headed for a fight with Antonio Margarito. If an accord isn't reached for that fight, Pacquiao most likely will do a rematch with Miguel Cotto.

According to Bob Arum - who promotes Pacquiao, Margarito and Cotto - Williams hasn't been promoted properly and isn't enough of a household name; therefore, he can't generate enough pay-per-view buys for a fight with Pacquiao, who has a hefty minimum guarantee.

George Peterson, who manages and trains Williams, dismissed that notion as utter nonsense.

"I realize any excuse is better than none," Peterson said. "Pacquiao last fought Joshua Clottey. So what does he think about Joshua Clottey, you know what I'm saying?"

Clottey is also promoted by Arum.

"I know what's happening and everybody knows what's happening," Peterson said.

Much talk has taken place recently about Arum wanting do keep as much of his business in-house as possible.

"He will still retain that championship belt in his stable, so people realize just what he's saying when he says that," Peterson said. "One thing about Bob Arum is he doesn't want any of his fighters to fight Paul Williams because he isn't willing to accept a loss. He is putting protection on his fighters."

The last time Arum did put one of his fighters in against Williams, it was Margarito.

Williams took Margarito's welterweight title via unanimous decision in July 2007. Since, Williams has seen another Top Rank fighter - Kelly Pavlik - twice pull out of fights with him because of injury.

Like Peterson, Williams said Arum's reasoning doesn't hold water.

"If that is the case, he (Arum) had to cover the minimum guarantee with Clottey," Williams said. "He fought in Cowboys Stadium (before 50,994) and most of them were Pacquiao fans. You could only see three or four Clottey fans, and they were his teammates."

Basically, Williams said, "That is a bunch of bull right there. They are just using that as an excuse for people that don't know boxing, so it will go over their heads. The people that know boxing, they know it is not accurate."

Indeed, it's hard to imagine a fight between Williams and Pacquiao wouldn't do at least as well as Pacquiao-Clottey, which sold 700,000 pay-per-view buys. Especially when one considers that whereas Clottey's chances of beating Pacquiao were minimal, Williams' would be considerably better. 

Then there would be the spectacle of the fight, what with 5-foot-6 1/2-inch Pacquiao against the 6-3 Williams. Williams' height seemingly is one reason why some welterweights haven't been itching to get into the ring with him, thus his move to junior middleweight and middleweight.

But Williams believes that as long as he can get down to welterweight, where Pacquiao currently resides, his height should not be a reason why fighters at 147 pounds don't want to fight him.

"I can't say that because I'm tall I have an advantage," Williams said. "Anything can happen in the fight game. I done seen some girls beat up guys, so anything can happen in a fight."

The question is, will that career-defining, big-money-making fight ever happen for Williams? He remains hopeful of getting a fight with either Pacquiao or Mayweather.

"The bottom line is they got a reputation as the best guys out there," Williams said. "I want to be the one to beat them guys. I want to be the one to get a shot at them guys. The money would be good, too, of course.

"But to be in the ring and to be able to beat one of those guys, in my mind, I want to be the one to go in there and do it. I want to be able to get the opportunity to be the first one to beat Mayweather, and to beat Pacquiao, who is one of the top guys."

Williams and Mayweather are both advised by Al Haymon. Peterson said he has mentioned to Haymon that Williams would love to fight Mayweather.

"We threw it out there," Peterson said. "He (Haymon) knows Paul is open to fighting any and everybody. He wants the best, whoever they are."

Martinez Rematch Looming

Peterson, knowing a fight with Pacquiao is unlikely, said a rematch with Sergio Martinez is No. 1 on the list for Williams' next fight. The two tangled last December in Atlantic City, with Williams winning a majority decision. By most accounts, the fight was very close.

But one judge, Pierre Benoist, had Williams winning 119-110. Julie Lederman had it a 114-114 draw and Lynne Carter favored Williams, 115-113.

HBO is pushing the rematch and Williams is all for it.

"All they (the Martinez side) have to do is sign the contract and the fight's done," Williams said. "They already knew after the fight, if they want a rematch and the money is right, it's a go."

What Brand, Heinz?

Williams said he also wouldn't mind another fight with Kermit Cintron. They fought in May at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The fighters became slightly entangled during the fourth round when Cintron went flying out of the ring, Williams winning a split technical decision when Cintron couldn't continue.

Williams suggested that the way Cintron went out, then first landed on a ringside table before rolling off and onto the ground, he was "looking for an easy way out."

"They get the money right, and I'll get back in the ring and punch his mouth wide open. It'll be like a bottle of ketchup," Williams said.

Why Not Make Amir Khan-Timothy Bradley?

Why does Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer seem to be pushing for super lightweight champion Amir Khan to fight the winner of Marquez-Diaz, who will be engaging each other in a lightweight championship bout? (All three fight for Golden Boy).

Marquez will be 37 next month, and he is better off staying at lightweight. Diaz is still just 26, but he's also better off at lightweight. Any fight with Khan would have to be at super lightweight, meaning either Marquez or Diaz would have to move up in weight. Both Khan and Bradley hold titles at super lightweight.

Well, Schaefer said he is wide open to making a unification fight between Khan and Bradley if ...

"Amir Khan told me he wants the big fights and if the biggest fight is with Marquez, so be it," Schaefer said. "If it is a fight with Timothy Bradley, no problem. I'm going to be meeting with Amir Khan next week in Las Vegas.

"And if Amir Khan wants to fight Timothy Bradley, I fully endorse it, if that is the fight we feel as a team is the best fight both from a fight point of view and business point of view. Then hey, I'm not going to say no to that. I'm all for it. I don't have a problem."

Bradley, promoted by Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson, beat Luis Carlos Abregu in the welterweight main event Saturday in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Afterward, Khan was one of the fighters he called out.

Khan responded on his twitter account by saying, among other things, "Talk is cheap. I'll fight Tim Bradley..."

Nothing against Marquez, or Diaz. But Khan-Bradley appears much more attractive than Khan-Marquez or Khan-Diaz.

Interestingly, on Wednesday, only days after he said he wanted Bradley, Khan was quoted in a story in the Bolton News as saying he is almost certainly going to fight the winner of Marquez-Diaz next in December.

De La Hoya Coming Out of Retirement?

A source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told BoxingScene.com recently that Oscar De La Hoya is considering a comeback next year. De La Hoya, now 37, hasn't fought since being stopped by Pacquiao after eight rounds in December 2008.

Eric Gomez is one of De La Hoya's matchmakers at Golden Boy Promotions. The two are also childhood friends, having grown up in East L.A. together. Gomez said there is no way De La Hoya is going to fight again

"No, no, not even joking," Gomez said Wednesday afternoon. "Not that I know of. He would have mentioned something. He's retired and it's our job to keep it that way. He should stay retired."

Jacobs Stayed Away From The Rif-raf

In a little more than a week, Jacobs will be in the biggest fight of his career when he squares off with Pirog in the semi-main event underneath Marquez-Diaz at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

He's come a long way since growing up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, where he was raised by his mother and grandmother.

"There was the regular, typical Brownsville stuff as far as the drugs and the gangs," said Jacobs, who said he never got involved in any of that. "So it was kind of hard in that sense, but it was normal to me.

"Then I started traveling and seeing different things and I realized Brownsville wasn't a normal lifestyle. From that point on I wanted to work hard and make a better life for myself, and that's what I chose to do. But it was definitely hard growing up in that neighborhood."

Robert Morales covers boxing for the Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram and BoxingScene.com