By Dr. Peter Edwards (photo credit to HBO)
It's the same old boxing scenario, the young lion coming up to devour the old lion who is trying to make one last run. There is no other way to describe Saturday's bout between undefeated Paul "The Punisher" Williams (30-0, 22 KOs) and 17-year veteran Sharmba "Little Big Man" Mitchell (57-5, 30 KOs).
Williams, a rising welterweight star from Augusta, Georgia, is on the verge of becoming a legit contender at 147 pounds, if he can get past the slick southpaw boxing style of Sharmba Mitchell. Only 25-years-old and possessing only six-years of experience, Williams evens up the odds on Mitchell with his abundance of size and strength.
Standing at nearly 6'2, with a reach of 79 inches, Williams is quite possibly the largest welterweight threat to hit the division since Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns terrorized the weight class almost 30-years ago.
The comparisons to Hearns, who stood at 6'1, with a reach of 78 inches, was a given as soon as Williams made his HBO debut on May 27, and pounded out an impressive ten round stoppage of undefeated prospect Walter Matthysse. The career of Williams is very similar to that of Julio Cesear Chavez, Jr. Like Chavez Jr., Williams has very little amateur experience, and was forced to learn the ropes inside the professional ranks.
The first four years of Williams' career were against opponents without a heartbeat, fighters simply thrown in the ring with the powerful puncher as guinea pigs to showcase the lessons he was taught in the gym.
William's manager/trainer George Peterson has been hooking Williams up with a lot of experienced fighters in the gym to teach him the tricks of the trade. While training in the Poconos, Williams was working with junior middleweight Sechew Powell, among others. Peterson also brought Williams for a few weeks to Washington, D.C., where he says the best training and quality sparring can be found.
"You get your best training and quality sparring in D.C. We always wind up going there. Paul's been in the ring with 10 world champions. He worked with Joppy, Travis Simms, he worked with O'Neil Bell, he worked with Robert Allen, he worked with Collazo, he worked with Lou Del Valle, Glen Johnson. He worked with, shooks, how many do you have there? I'm going to name them all, it's been 10 of them. He even worked with Tony Thompson, that's a heavyweight, and Teddy Reid. But he never sparred with Sharmba Mitchell. We knew that he was going to be one of our adversaries. We knew that we would eventually have to fight him, we knew that from the jump," Peterson said.
Williams has felt his fighting level rise as a result of sparring with so many top-tier fighters in the gym. Most fighters would be intimidated to be in the ring with a high caliber fighter, but Williams feels that sparring with the best brings out the best in him.
"These guys are champions. They'll make you be on point, 'cause if you make a mistake, they going to make you pay for that mistake. So I know if I get in there and fight for a title, I know I can handle my own in there. It don't matter who they bring in the ring with me," Williams said.
One of more famous sparring stories in the career of Williams, took place in 2004, when he was helping Antonio Margarito prepare for a jump to the junior middleweight level to challenge champion Daniel Santos. Williams said that he hurt Margarito so bad that the sparring session was cut short.
Recently, Williams has been calling out his old sparring buddy, telling Margarito that he is not afraid to fight the man that many call "the most avoided fighter in the welterweight division."
Another positive point for Williams has been his punch output. He can throw a high volume of power punches to pressure his opponent without getting tired. The biggest problem for Williams is his defense. He simply gets hits too much at times. The young prospect has shown a good chin, but all it takes is one punch to land in the right spot to end a fight. While throwing a high volume of punches, Williams tends to leave himself open to counters – and that could spell trouble if the problem is not solved as he moves up in the ranks.
Sharmba Mitchell returns to the ring in what might be his last time in spotlight if he loses. After 17-years in the game, Mitchell has seen a lot of ups and downs. The ups include being a two-time junior welterweight champion, and beating several top contenders at 140 pounds. The downs include numerous knockout losses, including losing two out of his last four bouts by knockout. Mitchell was stopped by Kostya Tszyu in three rounds in November 2004, and two fights later he was stopped by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in six. Between both fights, Mitchell tasted the canvas 6 times.
Mitchell is not impressed with all of the hype surrounding Paul Williams. After watching tapes of Williams, he saw a young amateur - not a seasoned pro. Mitchell sees his experience advantage, and the shaky defense of Williams, as his keys to victory.
"Paul Williams is a kid. He has a lot of amateur in him still, I think. He's really long and lanky, but he has too much amateur in him. The three times I've seen him fight, he didn't look good to me. "His last fight, the guy had him out. If the guy had any kind of real experience, then he would have knocked him out. He just didn't have the ability and the knowledge to get him out of there. When he fought against the guy, Terrance Cauthen, I thought he lost. It was just too close. How many more punches can he really take? He's throwing a lot of punches, but he's getting hit a lot," Mitchell said.
Peterson does not see the fight with Mitchell going the distance, like many experts have said in the last few weeks, he feels Mitchell is not too old, but too small to hang with Williams.
"Sharmba is not big enough for this young man. He's coming in there five-seven, five-eight, Paul's standing six-two. He can stand across the street and hit you. Sharmba's a runner, he's going to run a lot. But he can only run for so long and after while, he's got to decide that he's got to put some points on the scorecard. He's got to come in and when he come in, he's coming into danger. It's hot up in there. It's real hot, you know what I'm saying? That's going to be the key to that," Peterson said.
Williams does plan to change his style for the quicker Mitchell. He is going to put pressure on Mitchell from the opening bell and plans to punish the veteran with power punches. He knows that he can’t match Mitchell in the speed department, but if he cuts off the ring and applies the pressure – he will nullify Mitchell’s speed. The game plan is simple – non-stop pressure from the opening bell to break Mitchell down. Sooner or later, Williams predicts that Mitchell will stand his ground – and that’s when he will stop him.
"I go in there to punish him. I feel like when you get in a fight, you come to fight. Boxing is a fight. When a guy is hitting me and stuff, they going to have to bring it. I'm going to hit them back four or five times, and I want to get the best shots. Me and Sharmba, I tell you like this. I'm not being big-headed saying I'm all that, but I'm going to win, and I'm going to knock him out. I know he going to be on the run and try to do all that little slick movement, but that's OK. I'm just going to keep pressing him, keep pressing him, throw a lot of punches and make him spend his little energy, and if he close, I'm going to rough him up in there. I'm going to put my weight on him, I'm going to make him fight. He going to have to fight," Williams said.
Currently the number one contender in the WBO rankings, Williams is going push for a bout with WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito – should he beat Mitchell as expected by many. If the fight with Margarito doesn’t happen, he is willing to fight any of the top names at 147 pounds. He doesn’t care if it’s Zab Judah, Shane Mosley or Ricky Hatton – he wants them all in the ring.
The welterweight division is loaded with talent. If Williams can get past Mitchell, he would certainly be in the mix within a division packed with fighters that can bring him seven-figure paydays. Few prospects are willing to take the necessary risks to earn those paydays. It’s a fresh change of pace to see one prospect willing to fight all comers in order to earn his status.
