Paul Williams to Face Nobuhiro Ishida on July 9

Paul Williams' return to the ring is set for July 9 on HBO, and Dan Rafael reports that Williams will face Nobuhiro Ishida. A venue has yet to be determined. Williams (39-2, 27 KO) is coming off of a vicious second round knockout loss to Sergio Martinez last November, and has decided to move back down to the junior middleweight division. Ishida (23-6-2, 8 KO) is coming off of a wipeout of James Kirkland on April 9, which stunned the boxing world in just 1:52. Ishida knocked Kirkland down three times despite not being known as a puncher, and being signed up as a 35-year-old patsy for the promising Texas action fighter. I don't think there's really any getting around the fact that this is a pretty weak comeback fight for Williams, particularly when you consider that this is an HBO main event. All respect to Ishida, who got here with a credible and shocking victory, but he was not a real contender a month ago, and even though he's had a solid career, there were better fights that could have been made. Pawel Wolak was in the discussion, but reportedly turned down by Williams. Deandre Latimore called out Williams, and as a southpaw with some pop, seemed like a fine opponent for a Williams return. But this is clearly about getting Paul back in the ring in a fight that isn't supposed to be too dangerous for him. It's a rehab fight, a "get well" fight, and while those happen all the time, I can't help but think that HBO agreeing to this as a main event is a first-class example of some of the problems at the network, which has been criticized for buying fights less often than buying single fighters or their management teams. I'm not saying I'm not interested in seeing Paul Williams come back, because I am. But HBO has the ability to make great fights happen, or at least play a major hand in doing so. This is not a great fight. This fight goes one of two ways: Williams proves his predictable superiority against Ishida in a cobwebs-shaker, or Williams proves incapable of recovering from the Martinez knockout. http://www.badlefthook.com/2011/5/15/2172284/paul-williams-next-fight-nobuhiro-ishida-hbo-july-9

Comments (20)

p.will will take this one easy, ishida just got lucky with kirkland n kirkland's a turd anyway

15y ago

Antonio

Williams deserves an easy fight back.

15y ago

New_England

A damn good fight for Williams. Would be a damn good fight for anybody coming off a bad KO loss. Ishida gots some nice little popularity after shocking my boy Kirkland. Williams don't bring the same kind of style & pressure Kirkland does because he's a lot taller. I think he just beats Ishida down and becomes the first man to stop him and hopefully get some confidence back. great post green karma. as emanuel steward says "Pressure from a tall guy..." williams is huge huge huge ishida will be getting zero leverage on his punches and when he's at his best williams throws a lot of punches consistently, where kirkland (at his best, pre prison) moves forward with more fervor than he punches in terms of volume ishida is no puncher look at that record. it doesn't tell the whole story, but it says a good deal when you cant get more than two handfuls of opponents in a long career. kirkland is an open book for anything straight williams is an open book as well, but he can keep a man at the end of his punches at a high volume. it doesn't matter how open you are if your opponent is too far away to hit you good fight for williams to get some rounds in with a hot name that will have a hard time scoring points, nevermind hurt paul williams vía decisión if he's really looking to shake off rust and they are going 10 perhaps a stoppage form accumulation if he's still got the magic

15y ago

New_England

Then ignore it. ****in awesome thing to say to that man. green k'd you for it on to the fight: this isn't a fight i'm not willing to watch: nobu deserves a big fight after his kirkland win. guys have to get rewarded for such performances or we'll stop seeing them. guys will pack it in and go home if they don't think winning a fight on hbo as an opponent will get them another payday and williams was just on the receiving end of an all time great one punch knockout. he should not be in the ring with any sort of puncher for this fight! he has a chance to come back at this stage if he gets knocked out badly again in his comeback fight his career is all but over. wolak is a horrible fight for williams at this stage as is any puncher he was knocked out COLD over the winter. my issue is with this fight being a main event it should not be a main event but if they stack the undercard (it's obviously going to be boxing after dark,) with competitive matches then you wont have to twist my arm to get me to watch it roy jones on the broadcasting team makes any fight awesome as well roy jones is superman

15y ago

Dirk_Diggler_UK

Paul wanted an immediate rematch with Martinez, but the Martinez camp turned him down No.....no they did not. You just made that up.

15y ago

Dirk_Diggler_UK

Its a tune up on for a guy who just fought one of the best boxers on the planet in Martinez. You cant hate on this. Yet you were calling Martinez a cherry picker when there was a RUMOUR that he might fight this guy. Shiiiit fight.

15y ago

size15shoe

Paul wanted an immediate rematch with Martinez, but the Martinez camp turned him down, so dont act like Williams wanted an "easy" fight right after Martinez.. Williams is the only fighter that cannot win on this board. He gets KO'd, yall **** on him. He tries to get an immediate rematch with the man that KO'd him, yall **** on him. He takes a tune-up fight, yall **** on him. At one point, the **** has got to stop. Paul MAY just do what most on this board said he should do, build a NAME at 154lb. Its possible that his camp may go thru the ranks and win some straps, then possibly move up in weight, the right way. And its not like PWill is a bum..HBO and PAul have put on some good matches on the past. One KO shouldnt make him drop off of the HBO roster SMH

15y ago

Visceral

This is a legit fight. If Kirkland had won he would have likely gotten a shot at Paul, why shouldn't Ishida get the chance when he whooped Kirkland?

15y ago

antrob

I'm so glad that I stopped paying for HBO services a long time ago and catch all of their cards on a stream. I would be extra pissed if my hard earn money that I'm paying my subscription with was going to pay for a fight like this, especially a main event fight.

15y ago

chiguy91

this fight is a good fight for hbo. pwill's return fight and ishida deserves another fight. is it worthy of being a headliner?? no. but i dont see how anyone thinks it doesnt belong on hbo. ishida is no bum. cosign...both of them deserve this type of match. pwill for a comeback against a fairly good fighter coming off a great win for himself, and ishida getting a shot at a known name on HBO again. even though it might not seem suitable for it to be a headliner, hopefully they can put some interesting undercards to possibly show on HBO.

15y ago

Kagami_Taiga

15y ago

OG_Triple

watch williams get KOed again

15y ago

BURNER

Props to Ishida though he gets another chance to shine. Sadly Paul will send his head into press row.

15y ago

onechance87

Its cool,As long as they dont overpay for it.Williams by dec

15y ago

danny711

This is what I love about boxing, a guy like Ishida is a virtual unknown a few months back and wins a fight against a high profile fighter and now, finds himself in with another high profile fighter in Paul Williams. Name of the game. A good outing can resurrect/make a career

15y ago

danny711

:lol1: Good fight. I'm actually interested in Paul's punch resistance, is it still there or did The Sexxxy One crack it for good? Ishida isn't exactly a power puncher despite stopping Kirkland.

15y ago

Evil_Abed

15y ago

BostonGuy

15y ago

danny711

I think that is a good choice of opponent for Pwill.

15y ago

Evil_Abed

It's a reasonable tune up for a guy who was just KTFO. No Hate, Agreed. But shouldn't be on HBO. Maybe ESPN. Or off TV.

15y ago