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Floyd Mayweather Jr. Could Silence His Critics by Fighting Paul Williams
The ever flamboyant and never bashful boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. was in the news again this week.
Mayweather was engaged in an intense session of verbal jousting with ESPN’s Friday Night Fights commentator Brian Kenny.
The victor in the heated dispute is a matter of opinion, but one thing most will agree on is that both men gave valid points for and against Mayweather’s supposed ducking of top ranked welterweights.
Kenny opened fire by calling Mayweather—the former pound for pound No. 1 fighter, and then proceeded to hammer him with questions regarding Mayweather’s decision to fight Juan Manual Marquez—who is a natural lightweight—instead of facing the bigger welterweight fighters such as top ranked Sugar Shane Mosley.
The ESPN commentator seemed to have forgotten an earlier 2006 interview in which he publicly interrogated Mayweather as to why he was choosing to fight Zab Judah instead of the tough English 140 pound champion Ricky Hatton, or the man who had just defeated Judah, Carlos Baldimir.
It is noteworthy that in the following months succeeding that interview Mayweather went on to destroy Baldimir, and also knock out the then undefeated Ricky Hatton with a beautiful left check hook while stepping backward.
Kenny also seems to forget that in 2002, Mayweather moved up from the super featherweight to the lightweight division to fight four of his greatest all time bouts, which were all world championship contests.
Two of those bouts were against a bigger man, José Luis Castillo, for the WBC and The Ring lightweight belts.
In their first bout, Castillo had some success in the late rounds by cutting off the ring and used his strength to wear down Mayweather, who was on his bicycle for most of the fight.
Castillo, however, had lost many of the early rounds in the fight, and the Judges felt that he hadn’t done quite enough in the later ones to allow for a win.
Many scribes, and hard core fans alike, still argue to this day that Mayweather should have lost the fight, but the fact is that he didn’t; he won by unanimous decision.
The people called for a rematch, however, in the rematch Mayweather further employed his use of excellent timing, athletic ability, and combinations to secure another win by unanimous decision, and this time there was no controversy.
It’s also important to note that Mayweather was outweighed in those fights by the larger Castillo, especially on fight night where Castillo weighed 147 and Mayweather a mere 138.
Paul Williams storied introduction to the sweet science came when he got into a scuffle on the school bus, apparently the driver of the bus noticed that Williams was making a habit of getting himself into trouble and he decided to take the young man under his wing.
Williams possesses an 82-inch reach and his long, lightning-like jab was working well when The Punisher made his HBO debut against undefeated Walter Matthysse on May 27, 2006.
Williams won by a punishing 10th round technical knockout.
An amazing win, and it was followed by a victory over former junior welterweight world champion Sharmba Mitchell. Williams knocked Mitchell down three times en route to a fourth-round TKO.
Paul Williams’ only loss has come against Carlos Quintana by decision. Williams got the rare opportunity to avenge the single blemish however—when he and Quintana re-matched for the WBO welterweight title on June 7, 2008—and he succeeded by scoring a thrilling knockout in the early rounds.
Simply observing his recent dominant performance over journeyman defensive specialist Winky Wright left most fans tired and out of breath.
The Mandalay Bay Events Center was only half-full, but those few fans undoubtedly now understand why Williams might be the sport’s most intriguing new talent.
Williams threw over 1,000 punches in the fight, 104 punches in the first round, and 106 in the 12th on route to a 12 round unanimous decision over the shell shocked Wright.
Someone once said that styles make fights. If those words are true, then a Williams Mayweather fight would certainly be a fight fan’s dream match; hundreds of punches would undoubtedly be thrown, slipped, and parried by both combatants in a slug fest for the ages.
Williams’ long and lanky 6′ 2″ frame would make an easy target for Mayweather, but at the same time Mayweather would have an undauntedly hard task when attempting to use his specialized defensive style to avoid being hit by Williams combinations, which would no doubt be delivered from the most awkward of all angles—the southpaw stance.
It would be an interesting fight from many points of interest; however, for two obvious reasons, one being money, and the other being size, it may become—just another one of those dream matchups that we wish for—but sadly, falls far short of becoming a reality.
Mayweather was engaged in an intense session of verbal jousting with ESPN’s Friday Night Fights commentator Brian Kenny.
The victor in the heated dispute is a matter of opinion, but one thing most will agree on is that both men gave valid points for and against Mayweather’s supposed ducking of top ranked welterweights.
Kenny opened fire by calling Mayweather—the former pound for pound No. 1 fighter, and then proceeded to hammer him with questions regarding Mayweather’s decision to fight Juan Manual Marquez—who is a natural lightweight—instead of facing the bigger welterweight fighters such as top ranked Sugar Shane Mosley.
The ESPN commentator seemed to have forgotten an earlier 2006 interview in which he publicly interrogated Mayweather as to why he was choosing to fight Zab Judah instead of the tough English 140 pound champion Ricky Hatton, or the man who had just defeated Judah, Carlos Baldimir.
It is noteworthy that in the following months succeeding that interview Mayweather went on to destroy Baldimir, and also knock out the then undefeated Ricky Hatton with a beautiful left check hook while stepping backward.
Kenny also seems to forget that in 2002, Mayweather moved up from the super featherweight to the lightweight division to fight four of his greatest all time bouts, which were all world championship contests.
Two of those bouts were against a bigger man, José Luis Castillo, for the WBC and The Ring lightweight belts.
In their first bout, Castillo had some success in the late rounds by cutting off the ring and used his strength to wear down Mayweather, who was on his bicycle for most of the fight.
Castillo, however, had lost many of the early rounds in the fight, and the Judges felt that he hadn’t done quite enough in the later ones to allow for a win.
Many scribes, and hard core fans alike, still argue to this day that Mayweather should have lost the fight, but the fact is that he didn’t; he won by unanimous decision.
The people called for a rematch, however, in the rematch Mayweather further employed his use of excellent timing, athletic ability, and combinations to secure another win by unanimous decision, and this time there was no controversy.
It’s also important to note that Mayweather was outweighed in those fights by the larger Castillo, especially on fight night where Castillo weighed 147 and Mayweather a mere 138.
Paul Williams storied introduction to the sweet science came when he got into a scuffle on the school bus, apparently the driver of the bus noticed that Williams was making a habit of getting himself into trouble and he decided to take the young man under his wing.
Williams possesses an 82-inch reach and his long, lightning-like jab was working well when The Punisher made his HBO debut against undefeated Walter Matthysse on May 27, 2006.
Williams won by a punishing 10th round technical knockout.
An amazing win, and it was followed by a victory over former junior welterweight world champion Sharmba Mitchell. Williams knocked Mitchell down three times en route to a fourth-round TKO.
Paul Williams’ only loss has come against Carlos Quintana by decision. Williams got the rare opportunity to avenge the single blemish however—when he and Quintana re-matched for the WBO welterweight title on June 7, 2008—and he succeeded by scoring a thrilling knockout in the early rounds.
Simply observing his recent dominant performance over journeyman defensive specialist Winky Wright left most fans tired and out of breath.
The Mandalay Bay Events Center was only half-full, but those few fans undoubtedly now understand why Williams might be the sport’s most intriguing new talent.
Williams threw over 1,000 punches in the fight, 104 punches in the first round, and 106 in the 12th on route to a 12 round unanimous decision over the shell shocked Wright.
Someone once said that styles make fights. If those words are true, then a Williams Mayweather fight would certainly be a fight fan’s dream match; hundreds of punches would undoubtedly be thrown, slipped, and parried by both combatants in a slug fest for the ages.
Williams’ long and lanky 6′ 2″ frame would make an easy target for Mayweather, but at the same time Mayweather would have an undauntedly hard task when attempting to use his specialized defensive style to avoid being hit by Williams combinations, which would no doubt be delivered from the most awkward of all angles—the southpaw stance.
It would be an interesting fight from many points of interest; however, for two obvious reasons, one being money, and the other being size, it may become—just another one of those dream matchups that we wish for—but sadly, falls far short of becoming a reality.
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