By Rick Reeno

There is no shortage of drama in the welterweight division. Several months ago, WBO welterweight champion Paul Williams (33-0, 24 KOs) and IBF champion Kermit Cintron were trading words in the media. After a few weeks of verbal back-and-forth, the promoters of the two fighters, Goossen Tutor and Main Events, came together to make the fight happen. Shortly thereafter, a deal was stuck and the fight was agreed upon for a main event slot on a February 2 tripleheader. HBO was scheduled to televise.

There was one final hurdle before the fight could move forward, Cintron had a title defense scheduled for November 23 against unheralded Jesse Feliciano. As most had expected, Cintron won, but the fight was much tougher than anyone could have predicted. Following a final combination of punches in the tenth-round, which forced the referee to stop the fight, Cintron was walking back to his corner when he abruptly crumbled in pain. It was later found that Cintron had suffered severe ligament damage in his right hand and he withdrew from the Williams fight. Williams will now face Carlos Quintana in the main event of an HBO televised card on February 9.

Cintron recently issued a press release, calling out Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto, but one name was missing from his list of challenges - Paul Williams. Emanuel Steward, trainer of Cintron, told BoxingScene.com that his fighter has issued a direct order to make a rematch with Magarito. Steward said "his preference is for a fight with Margarito."

Williams, trainer/manager George Peterson, and promoter Dan Goossen are outraged over Cintron's recent challenge of Margarito.

Speaking with BoxingScene.com, Williams feels that Cintron is looking for any exit to avoid a fight with him.

"He's looking for a lifeline. He still had an opportunity to fight me on February 9," Williams said. "He said he wants to unify the titles, Margarito has no title. He don't want to unify the titles. He had the hand flu and his hand flu is just about over. What's his next excuse?"

Promoter Dan Goosen was equally upset and broke down the negotiations while speaking with BoxingScene.

"Sometimes they say a picture says a thousand words. In his press release, there were seven words 'I don't want to fight Paul Williams.' I found it amusing that we had a agreement in place to fight on Feb. 2 and then he got injured. We were willing to give him the time to heal until March 29 and gave him that opportunity and they said he wouldn't be ready," Goossen said.

“Now we see this press release that he wants to fight the guy that Paul just beat. He's trying to distance himself from Paul Williams as much as possible. That tells us as much as we need to know. No fan or champion respects what he just did. I hear he's been given the go-ahead to begin training in January and he would of been available for the March date. I don’t want ever demean a fighter, but when you come with something so transparent, I have to comment on it. This is something that goes way past ducking. This is an agreement we had in place, a date we had in place and a deal with HBO we had in place. This isn’t ducking, this is running at light speed to distance himself from Paul Williams.”

While some may say Goossen was being a bit hard on Cintron, others may consider his words as being kind, at least when comparing them to outrage felt by Peterson. Peterson doesn’t buy the seriousness of Cintron’s injury and in his opinion, Cintron was never going to fight Williams in the first place.

“We knew all along the fight would never happen. Cintron did all that drama when he fought Jesse Feliciano. He’s trying to save face on the website. He trying to win people over by saying he wants to fight these people. He could be fighting Paul right now,” Peterson said. "We knew it was never going to take place. He realized after the fight that he still had Paul and went into theatrics and falls on the mat and rolls and rolls and rolls. He never mentioned Paul Williams again, everyone could see right through that.”

“He gets on the internet and calls out people. That's not how fights gets done. He has a problem. He has no heart, he’s heartless. He needs to go back to Sesame Street, Kermit The Frog. He looked lesser than an amateur against Feliciano. He looked terrible. He was about 30-seconds away going into his theatrical moves. Feliciano would have won that fight. Cintron would have quit in another 45-seconds. Cintron was leveling them punches and showed no handicap with that right hand whatsoever. He can't fool nobody. He needs to be arrested for felony fraud for putting on that kind of drama in the ring.”

Cintron was far from the only fighter that Williams pursued for the February date. Goossen tells BoxingScene that former welterweight champion Zab Judah was approached and wanted no part of Williams. They also went after Margarito, who also turned down the fight.

“I was reading something the other day, where Zab Judah acted like we didn’t even pursue him for the fight. Our first choice after Cintron pulled out was Zab Judah and not only did we try to make the fight and they said no, I came like Howie Mandell, the host of Deal or No Deal, with all the cash I was ready to give away to make the fight happen,” Goossen said.

“After Zab, then it was Margarito. He said he was robbed so we were ready to do the rematch immediately and he didn't want to do it. Quintana was one of the few who accepted the fight. He’s only loss is to Cotto, who many feel is the best welterweight in the world. If you lose to Cotto, there is no shame it.  He’s certainly a man showing that he's willing fight anybody.”

A lot of bigger names in the welterweight division have said that Williams brings no money to the table. Goossen disagrees and points out some crucial facts for the fighters and promoters who disagree.

“At this stage of his career, where its just beginning, Paul has done something in one fight that Margarito has not been able to do in his entire career, and that’s put Margarito in his biggest fight ever. He  doubled Margarito’s biggest payday. That tells us one thing, there is no one out there that can say Paul doesn’t brings money to the table. Paul stirred the pot for that fight and we know this because Margarito had never stirred one before. Williams’ name and ability generated those types of number. I don’t care who it is, Cotto or whoever, they can’t say Paul doesn’t bring anything to the table.”

"This is how stars are made, when people are afraid to fight them. Mike Tyson had the same problem early on. He forced people to fight him by clearing out the divsion, and that's exactly what Paul Williams will do."