by David P. Greisman
Paul Williams is likely facing Nobuhiro Ishida in his next fight in January, but his mind is still on Sergio Martinez and Erislandy Lara.
Williams, who was in Washington, D.C., at the weigh-in for Amir Khan-Lamont Peterson, spoke with a group of reporters.
Q: It’s been several months since you fought Erislandy Lara. How are things with you?
Williams: “I feel good, I’m still 40-2, with 27 knockouts, you know what I'm saying. But when fans like listen to the commentators and they go by what they hear the commentators say, and you're only getting hit by one or two shots per round, they don’t see the whole picture. They’re not counting like the body punches and they’re seeing maybe like one, good, flashy punch, or whatever.”
Q: Who do you want to fight?
Williams: “Of course, I definitely want to get back in there with Sergio Martinez, or Saul Alvarez or Julio Chavez Jr. or somebody like that, you know.”
Q: Would you return to middleweight for a fight with Chavez Jr.?
Williams: “Of course I would go back up to middleweight. I would go to wherever I can get the fights at. I would go back to 160, or however I can get it. I will go where the money goes. If my promoter wants me to go down there, then that's where I will go. It’s just about getting somebody in the ring that everybody wants to see.
“I love to put on a show, so no matter how it's going to come out, no matter whether I win or lose, I want to put on a fight that people are going to talk about.”
Q: What did you think of your performance against Lara?
Williams: “I would say that I could have thrown more clean solid punches or more harder punches. But I was just getting back into it I was coming off a knockout. I was getting back into the swing of things again.”
Q: Did Lara’s style throw you off?
Williams: “No, he didn’t throw me off, but he would pot-shot for one or two punches and then he would run, you know what I'm saying. Of course, I want to get in there and mix it up, but I had to try to adjust to it. I wouldn't say that he threw me off, but it was just awkward coming off of a knockout and a layoff and getting back into it. It was tough to do against a guy that's running.”
Q: What kind of performance would you want to have against an opponent like Nobuhiro Ishida?
Williams: “I’m going to have a Paul Williams performance. I'm going to go in there … and break him off and inflict pain. I want to throw a lot of punches and get him out of there, whether they like it or they don't like it. I'm coming to put my best foot forward. I know that I have to make another statement. They're trying to say that I'm washed up and this and that, but you see that there ain’t no top fighters trying to call me out or none of that, so what does that tell you?”
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter at twitter.com/fightingwords2 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fightingwordsboxing, or send questions and comments to fightingwords1@gmail.com
