Chris Henry Stops Rubin Williams

By Boxing News - 07/10/2008 - Comments

By Sean McDaniel: #4 ranked WBC light heavyweight contender Chris Henry (22-1, 18 KOs) took out former super middleweight contender Rubin Williams (29-5-1, 16 KOs) in the 6th round of a scheduled 10-round bout on Wednesday night at the Grand Plaza Hotel, in Houston, Texas. Henry, 27, coming off of a 12-round unanimous decision loss to Adrian Diaconu for the interim WBC light heavyweight title in April, had too much fire power for the taller, slower Williams.

Battering away at Williams round after round, the fight was ultimately stopped by Williams’ corner in the 7th round after Williams began bleeding badly from a cut inside his mouth. At the time of the stoppage, he was taking severe punishment against the ropes by Henry. Referee Barry Yeats officially stopped the bout at 2:15 of the 6th round.

Henry, listed as 6’0,” looked much smaller than that next to the 6’1″ Williams, perhaps 5’9″ or maybe 5’10” if you wanted to be generous. His height, or lack thereof, wasn’t much of a problem on Wednesday night against the limited Williams, who looked terribly slow and badly ill-suited to be fighting as a light heavyweight. While Henry continuously came forward throwing huge shots to the midsection and head, Williams mostly threw slow jabs, circling around the ring in an even slower manner, and occasionally laying up against the ropes to receive punishment.

Williams, 32, made it easy for Henry, for he didn’t have to go looking for him because he was often lying against the ropes. Against a short fighter like Henry, who has short arms, Williams needed to be staying at the center of the ring where he could use his reach to jab away and keep Henry on the outside. Goodness knows, Henry wasn’t hard to hit, as he seemed to have no defense for anything thrown at him. He would come forward without throwing a jab much of the time, and seemed to do most of his work at close range in which he was winging big shots. It wasn’t particularly impressive, and I could see why he was recently beaten by Diaconu.

At the end of the 1st round, Henry suddenly opened up on Williams with a flurry of shots, and wrestled him into position where he knocked him down with a right hand at the bell. The referee, however, didn’t count the knockdown because of Henry’s wrestling move, which had pulled Williams out of position and lined him up for the right hand shot that put him down.

In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, Henry continued coming forward, throwing big punches to the body and head, keeping Williams under constant pressure. Other than an occasional jab, Williams largely stayed against the ropes trying to cover up. It was a bad strategy to use against a shorter fighter like Henry, because it seemed to be playing right into his hands. Late in the second, Williams nailed Henry with a big right hand as he came forward, sending sweat flying into the audience. The punch showed how vulnerable Henry was for right hands as he would come forward, perhaps because he just seemed way too focused on getting his shots off and wasn’t even considering his own defense.

This was the same mistake Henry made in his fight with Diaconu, who took advantage of Henry’s defensive lapses to pound out a decision victory over him. In the 3rd round, the referee warned Henry for the use of rabbit punches, after Henry hit Williams with a big right hand in the back of the head. It appeared that Henry was trying to punch around Williams’ gloves, which at the time were held high guarding his face from the punches from Henry. Instead of trying to go around William’s gloves, Henry should have been attacking the body a little more, because Williams was wide open for shots downstairs.

In rounds four through six Henry unmercifully pounded Williams around the ring, battering him first against the ropes on one side of the ring, then against the other. What had been a one-sided fight to begin with, was now a full rout, as Williams was hardly throwing anything back in these rounds. Early in the 4th, Henry was twice more warned for throwing rabbit punches by the referee. After the second warning, Henry seemed to finally adjust his punches a little, throwing less looping shots than previously.

In the 6th round, Williams, who had surprisingly started to fight back all of a sudden, started bleeding from his mouth. Seeing this, the referee stopped the fight and sent him to his corner to have it looked at. While he was on his way to have it looked at, Williams corner motioned to the referee that they wanted the fight to be stopped, at which point the referee immediately waived off the fight, stopping it at 2:15 of the 6th.

It was a good win for Henry, who with his #4 ranking will likely be challenging for the title in the not too distant future. The WBC is especially weak right now in the light heavyweight division, so Henry will likely be able to stay ranked high for a little while longer. I don’t see him winning a title, however. He’s not really skilled enough, not enough power in his shots and lacks fundamental boxing skills to beat the better light heavyweights like Diaconu, Chad Dawson or Glen Johnson. For that matter, I see other fighters ranked below him, like Shaun George, for example, that I see as being much better than him. I do think he’s a good trial horse and will be someone that can be used in that capacity, but not as a champion.