Williams Schools Wright – Is There Anyone That Can Beat Paul?
April 12th, 2009
By Matt Stein: Last night, Paul Williams (37-1, 27 KOs) showed how much better he is than the other welterweights, junior middleweights and middleweights, by defeating Winky Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs) by a near shutout 12-round unanimous decision at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas. If you were expecting a close fight, then you were in for a disappointment because Wright was beaten every which way by Williams, who punched nearly nonstop for the full 12 rounds and never really let Wright get into the fight.
Williams made Wright look like a novice tonight, bettering him with hooks, jabs and hard body shots. I don’t that Wright could have stood a better chance if he were 10 years younger, because it seemed as if Williams was simply a superior fighter on a higher level which had nothing to with age.
As the fight progressed into the later rounds, it reminded me of how Jeff Lacy was dominated by Joe Calzaghe in 2006, only this was even worse than that fight. Williams was throwing harder shots than Calzaghe and landing with much more force than the slaps that Calzaghe was raining down on Lacy.
An argument can be made that the fight should have been stopped by the 10th or 11th in order to save Wright from absorbing anymore needless punishment, but neither his corner or the referee Joe Cortez were interested in stopping the bout. Unable to block all of William’s continuous punches, Wright began to use a lot of clinching in the latter half of the bout to try and stem the flow of punches.
It only partly worked, because as soon as Williams would get any daylight after being separated from Winky, he’d begin all over again landing near nonstop punches to the head and body.
This win may have the opposite effect of attracting future opponents for Williams, because after seeing how easily he handled Wright, I can’t see middleweights like Arthur Abraham, Kelly Pavlik or Felix Sturm wanting to fight him. They probably won’t want to tangle with him unless he gets ranked in the middleweight division, and only then if he becomes one of their mandatory challengers.
Likewise, there are probably not a lot of light middleweights that will want to fight him either. It doesn’t matter who, Williams would cause the best in the division like James Kirkland all kinds of problems with his nonstop punching.
After the fight, Williams said that he plans on moving back down to the welterweight division so that he can reclaim his WBO welterweight title that was stripped from him when he moved up to light middleweight to take on Verno Phillips. Currently, the WBO welterweight champion is Miguel Cotto. I bet he’s probably not overjoyed with the prospect of fighting someone Williams, who is like a better version of Antonio Margarito.
I wonder if Cotto would accept this fight or possibly vacate the belt in order to prevent an almost certain beating similar – if not worse – than the one that Wright took tonight. For sure, Wright took an enormous amount of shots by Williams and it’s hard to imagine other fighters like Cotto, Abraham, Sturm or Pavlik wanting to tempt a similar fate.
Their whole offenses, with the exception of Sturm, are based on them being able to hurt and knockout their opponents. When they fail at this, you see instances where they lose badly like in Pavlik’s case, his loss to Hopkins. Williams has an excellent chin, and probably won’t be hurt by any of them.
This seems to suggest that Williams would beat them perhaps as easily as he beat Wright. Because of that, I see Williams continuing to have problems in the future landing fights against the big names in boxing. No one will want to take a beating like the one that Wright took tonight, and they’ll no doubt go out of their way to avoid having it happen.
Tags: 13 Responses to “Williams Schools Wright – Is There Anyone That Can Beat Paul?”
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LOL at Kirkland KO’ing Williams so easily. If Brian Vera can land on Kirkland, Paul Williams would have no problem doing so much more effectively.
Remember, much as though Kirkland has been impressive so far, he’s had opponents – of varying quality (Vera & Julio is a good example) – who are willing to trade with him.
When he comes up against a decent boxer, he’ll find it tougher. He won’t find Sergei Dzinziruk such an easy target to hit when they face off for the WBO light-middleweight title later this year. We’ll find out then whether Kirkland has a plan-B or not.
Froch v Williams Any Body?
Winky Wright is a soft punching one dimensional fighter. A very good one dimension i might say but still one dimension. Winky is old and past his prime and this fight proves nothing. Quintana out boxed Williams for an easy win so Williams can be outboxed by a smaller fighter. As for Cotto not having a chance Matt that tells me you damn near worship williams but you know what cotto would test that lean long rib cage like no one has before and definitely outbox him. Margarito is a cheating bum and dont you ever bring up his wins because they are stained by the dirty plaster used on his wraps.
Paul can fight any of the Middle title holder. AT 160 Paul likes good.Paul vs. Pavlik.
Williams is good but their are plentey out there who can beat him, At Welter Cotto would have a war with Williams which would be a very close fight. While at Light-Middle James Kirkland would destroy Williams Kirkland’s like a mini Mike Tyson one for the future.
Williams at 160 looks very lean… what does he lose to get to 147? Not sure it’s a good idea for him to move back to 147, but he’s an extra-ordinary boxer. Looking at Williams box is interesting because we’re discovering what he’s capable of. I’m glad he’s finally getting recognition.
I am tired of the hatewrs saying he hasn’t been tested yet. The big bioys don’t want any parts of this young man. Margarito didn’t want the rematch, Pavlike turned down Williams and took the hopkons fight, and Mosely said he would never fight Williams because of the Vernon Forest flash back. What is this man suppose to fo. People are saying what weight he should stay at but remember if he is not getting any action than he has to go where the action is. It’s sad but reality
Williams looked awesome and is on track to become one of the best in the world.I don’t see anybody competing with his speed,size and mass volume of punches.Just another American thats gonna dominate the division.Abraham will get his ass kicked if he even wants to step up.Which I doubt he will.
I’d like to see Williams stay heavier than 147. I cant see any of the top welters risking themselves against his massive reach.
However at light middle or middle I think there are some great fights for him. I’d love to see him take on any of the middleweight title holders. I think that the middleweight division is crying out for a unification fight, perhaps Williams is the man to do it?
At present I think Kirkland would be out of his depth. I look forward to seeing them fight in a couple of years.
Abraham knocks Williams out. Williams is wide open for a variety of punches, as shown by his fight with Winky. Unlike Winky, Abraham has enough pop to make his punches count.
Ok…. Williams was good but he hasn’t had his chin tested yet. Margarito was pretty close to getting him out of there in their fight so don’t hype him up too much yet. It was a fantastic win but thinking he will thrash pavlik is just laughable atm. Paul Williams dominated the welterweight division because he was twice the size of his opponents in the fight. Lets just wait and see he has good skills power and fast hands and truly lethal combination.
I believe this man can be one of the all time greats, His reach is 82 inch and he is a welter or middleweight. Thats 1 more inch than wladmir Kilitsko that is amazing. Who would want to face this man?
The answer for me would depend on how far Williams was willing to go up in weight. However, if Mayweather thinks he is the man, let him prove it by surely a man who is in the top 3 p4p.