By Michael Marley
Paul Williams, in his 11th year in the professional boxing ring, is widely acknowledged as the world's third best fighter, pound for pound.
He's 6-3, freakishly tall and he's fighting WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, also a power punching lefthander, in a Nov. 20 Atlantic City (HBO, not PPV) rematch simply because neither could persuade any other opponent to step up.
Their first fight was wild and wooly. Martinez got floored in the opening round and then the Argentinian decked the coltish PWill.
They traded hurt, they traded pain the rest of the way and, when it was over, Williams was tabbed the winner on two cards (119-110 and 115-113) while the third judge saw it a 114-114 draw.
This natural rematch comes a week after the Antonio Margarito-Manny Pacquiao HBO PPV bout and it figures to be equally engaging.
But, aside from Martinez, foes steer clear of Williams.
"They call him the 'Punisher' but Paul is the one who gets punished because these other guys won't fight him," manager-trainer George Peterson said at a New York press conference Thursday.
At age 29, with 40 pro bouts behind him, Williams' patience is growing thin.
"I don't think Floyd Mayweather will fight me anytime," Williams said. "Manny Pacquiao, he might do it, he might step up but not Floyd. I guess Floyd won't fight me because I don't have a vagina."
That X-rated shot, obviously, is a reference to the Baby Mama drama which briefly sent Mayweather to jail and led to domestic battery charges in Las Vegas.
Williams and Peterson don't think that Al Haymon's status as adviser to them, and to Mayweather, is what keeps the fighters apart.
"I was in the barbershop in (Washington) D.C., the other day and the guys were talking about it. They respect Floyd's skills like I do but they were saying they know he won't ever fight me," Williams said.
"If Floyd went to Al and said, "Hey, I want to fight Paul Williams, what can Al do? But Floyd is not going to ever say that. Pacquiao, he fights bigger guys, he's different than Mayweather so maybe I will get to fight him."
Like many others, Williams thinks Mayweather's obsession is being undefeated.
"Floyd ranks himself with Ray Robinson, with Joe Louis, all these guys..but all those great guys, they all lost sometime. Mayweather won't take a hard fight, he won't take the chance of losing."
Peterson's assessment is similar.
"Pacquiao, he loves to fight. Mayweather is his own manager, he's a smart businessman. Paul is not old enough for Floyd to fight. Floyd likes to wait until a guy is old. Pacquiao is more gutsy than Floyd is," Peterson said.
Williams notes that the structure of boxing is that the best often don't fight the best.
"I can make 147 (pounds) for Floyd or for Manny if I have to and I would," Williams said. "But this isn't like baseball or football where the best teams are mandated to play each other. In boxing, these guys don't want to give me the shot."
Peterson said their frustration is that Williams is not yet a PPV attraction and that he hasn't been able to show his considerable skills against the upper echelon.
"If Paul could fight about every months, he would become a real monster in boxing. Then the fans would see how sensational he really can be.
"I think Paul, at this stage, is like Marvin Hagler was at one point. He is vicious, he strikes like a cobra but guys run away from fighting him like they did with Hagler," Peterson said.
With Pacman being almost 32 and Mayweather turning 34 next year, Williams feels he will get to the Number One P4P position without them.
But, instead of proclaiming himself as a ring great, he wants to prove it.
I"d like to be the best welterweight and the best middleweight. I'd like to be up there with Ray Leonard, with Tommy Hearns but I can't get there if I don't get the opportunity."
Williams understands the system.
"If the fans demand it, then HBO will hear them," Williams said. "Maybe HBO can make the top guys fight me. If it's demanded by the public, then maybe. But, when these guys fight and then take the microphone after they fight, who do they mention?
"You never hear them say my name, do you?"
Williams record is 39-1 with 27 KOs while Martinez is 45-2-2 with 24 knockouts.
Michael Marley is the national boxing examiner for examiner.com. To read more stories by Michael Marley, Click Here .