Paul Williams: How come Cotto, Mayweather, Mosley, and Pacquiao Won’t Fight Him?
June 18th, 2009
By Jason Kim: It’s so sad that the one welterweight that none of the so-called best welterweights in the division like Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather, won’t fight Paul Williams (37-1, 27 KO‘s). Nowadays when you hear Williams’ name mentioned as an opponent for any of those fighters or Manny Pacquiao, people say, ‘Williams isn’t a welterweight, so why should they fight him?’
He doesn’t care which division it is and will fight whichever big name will man up and fight him. But the major players are ignoring him, and have formed a small clique where only their names are mentioned as being the best fighters in the welterweight division.
It’s such a joke, because none of them want to face Williams and have to suffer what will in all likelihood end up being a beating along the same lines that Williams gave to his last opponent Winky Wright in a 12 round lopsided decision victory in April.
Williams may not have the big names that Mayweather, Cotto, Mosley or Pacquiao have, but he’s been severely hampered because none of the big names, aside from Antonio Margarito and Winky Wright, were brave enough to fight him.
That won’t change in the future I’m afraid to say even if Williams were to campaign strictly in the welterweight division and not look for fights outside of the division. Heck, if Williams were to stay at welterweight only, he’d have to be content with defending whichever title that he grabs.
Williams’ case is kind of tragic when you think about it, because right now he can still make the weight class but has been frozen out by the other top fighter who want no part of him and his huge height, reach and high work rate.
But in the future, Williams probably won’t be able to make welterweight without draining himself badly to get down there and fight. Do you honestly think anyone will give him a fight in a few years? Not a chance. The only way that Williams will get one of those fighters to step in the ring with him is if he starts looking terrible and barely winning his fights.
At that point, probably all of them will jump at the chance to fight him like a pack of hounds jumping for some steak. But that is so sad, because none of them are willing to step up and fight him now while he’s capable of fighting at welterweight.
Mosley, 37, obviously won’t be around much longer due to his increasing age, so unless he steps up and fights Williams now, it just won’t ever happen. I highly doubt that Mosley will even consider a fight with Williams because he’s the type of opponent that Mosley has traditionally done badly against.
Right now, I would pick Williams to beat Mayweather, Cotto, Mosley and Pacquiao by a lopsided decision. None of them would be able to match up with him and his high work rate. It’s too bad, because Williams will probably have to be content with fighting lesser names for most of his career until he starts showing vulnerability.
And that probably won’t start happening for another five or so years from now. By then, Cotto, Mayweather, Pacquiao and Mosley will likely be out of the sport or badly degraded as fighters.
Tags: 25 Responses to “Paul Williams: How come Cotto, Mayweather, Mosley, and Pacquiao Won’t Fight Him?”
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dude – If he wants to make a name for himself, do what manny did…go up in weight division not down stupid!
remember the story of david and goliath/suit your taste anyway…
if he can make weight within the 140-144 weight limit then i’ll bet pacquiao would fight him. If not then there’s no way for you jose. Plead your case to the tooth fairy…
His the one who decide to move up to super welterweight and decline all possible bouts with the big names in the welterweight division. His desperation and ego guide his steps and decisions, causing a lost with Carlos “El Indio” Quintana, a boxing lesson from, as many says, B level fighter.
Now, he is looking back and see himself out of the action and, of course, the big money.
If he want action in welterweight, he can just shut his mouth, take a fight with someone like Clottey (he is looking for action too) and that is how it works.
It’s an easy posture, call himself the best fighter and said that every body is afraid to fight him, meanwhile, other just fight. Fight with the best possible challenge and for the respect of their fans, without fear, with respect to the sport and silence.
Mr. Williams, you have a lot of opportunities, just take it.
As a very small man and one who has moved up from 130 just a year ago, I do not expect Pac to be the one to fight Willims. Remember he started at 106 although he was very young and very skinny, but I know he has the warrior mentality and would die trying to beat him.
My beef is that the other guys have been around for much longer and still keep avoiding him. He already lost to Quintana when he appeared to be weight drained. Yes he destroyed him in a return. But the point is he is not invincible.
He is not the 1st freak of nature but what is scary is his volume of punches and stamina. If he wants to drain himself to fight at 147, if they follow Quintana’s blueprint, he will look weak and lethargic at 147. If he cn make the weight, 147 lbers have to fight him.
Margarito came on very strong and made their fight a bit close so again, if he is placed under pressure he can be beaten. I repeat, let Clottey, Mosley, Cotto and the natural welters fight him. Pacman, it would be pugilistic suicide to fight him. Be warned!
Why include Pacquiao in these article? Are you crazy or hust plain stupid? Pacquiao was a 106 lbs fighter. He was fighting at Super-Featherweight 130 lbs last year. Now you expect him to go againts a 6-foot-2 Middleweight? Come on.
Cotto would get taken out in first three rounds EASILY. Mayweather will never fight mosley or even more far fetch williams. Mosley and williams would be good fight and i think williams would make another clinic like he did with winky. Pac is too small and williams will never be able to fight at 143 or whatever pac demands and anyone saying pac is running from williams is just stupid. If pac and williams eventually did happen which that has 10% chance of happening if pac beats cotto,mayweather, and mosely first. that would be the first ppv i buy and not stream. Williams would destroy pacman at 147 and roach knows it.
Nobody wants to fight him because nobody wants to fight in an empty stadium while being jabbed to death with P-Will’s 82 inch “go go gadet” arms.
Paul is way too big and now that he has honed his natural gifts its too much ,he needs to stop crying trying to fight fighters sum 8 inches shorter in boxing thats too much to over come .pick on some one youre own size buddy .
Paul Williams enters the ring at 169 pounds when he’s a welterweight. That’s why no smaller guys will face him. He’s too heavy and too tall.
The guy has huge weight and height advantages over everyone and then complains that no welter will face him…….
Maybe he should just take on guys hisown size and weight at middle…………
Seriously though – Williams will never make welter again. He’s finished there. He hasn’t fought there in 5 fights
He has not fought @ Welter for 4 fights! He may say he will go down to 147, but he will be much weaker @ 147 then 154/160
Don’t you understand, the reason he is saying this is because of MONEY, the big names are @147 and he wants a big pay day, fair enough, whats a couple of weeks starving yourself when you know you have millions coming your way!
Realistically, he should just fight Pavlik, they are both freaks of nature, Pavlik is good but he looks like he should go up to light heavy and put some muscle mass on.
Williams needs to pick a division and if hes as good as he seems to think he is he will dominate.
The cream “ALWAYS” rises to the top, if hes that good he will be put in place for a mandatory, he will win titles, his stock will go up and if any others out there have any ambition at all they will get in the ring with him.
Hes not a big attraction, hes not settin out to stay at a weight and establish himself and hes not making even nearly enough noise to be in with the bunch.
Look what Haye did by just making noise, he got himself a title shot. Well nearly.
Paul Williams isn’t getting the big name opponent he wants but what is he doing about it? Nothing. He should be going to Sugar Shane’s house and kicking his cat or telling Manny’s wife she’s got terrible dress sense – something, anything! Just to raise his profile and get the fight he needs.
I’m not saying he should have severed heads on his T-shirts or be eating any unborn babies, but if he really believes he should have a shot at Manny, Mosley, et al then make the effort!
I think he should fight at middleweight, but thats just me.
I agree with Don Juan, this size difference talk is nonsense, check out footage from Hearns-Duran though the fight was one sided, no arguments they just got it on.
Mike Tyson was shorter than nearly all of his opponents and look what happened to them.
most of u lot need to stop writing comments. if u lot new anything about boxing you would no that u do get tall welter weights. all this talk how he should fight people his own size is crap. just because he tall that means he should fight in higher weights classes? all that means is that he got potential to fight at higher weight classes. If he can make the weight to fight then what the hell is the problem with him fighting at welter weight. There is no height or reach restrictions in boxing only weight. So people get over it.
Who wants to watch a guy thats got a foot reach advantge just yard stick a smaller guy away from him the whole fight? Its boring as S@#t. Ever wonder why nobody likes watching Klishtco? Dull and boring. Willams is like a super tall joe calazage. slap slap from a distance.
You’re right realbox. Williams should have been fighter of the year. The guy who got beat by Quintana, then beat Andy Kolle (who is this guy again) and Verno Phillips. Fighter of the Year material right there!
paul is too big i think his arms like broom sticks long and i think he should go to the NBA he reminds me of kevin garnet
Well, Pacquiao was chosen fighter of the year because he moved around in weight classes and is now considered the most chased boxer in the sport. Paul Williams isn’t considered the most chased boxer because he doesn’t spark interest. If he did, people would be all over him. He isn’t a natural welterweight. To fight in this division, he usually drains himself to make weight. He has too much of a hard time. For his height, weighing 147 is like almost being anorexic. He makes the weight but balloons like crazy by fight night. There is no way he would go below 147. I don’t think he can. He would if he could, but I think it’s almost impossible.
Pacquiao has a difficult time reaching 147. He’s come 5 pounds short of that. The height and reach advantages will be too much for Pacquiao. I honestly feel that their work rate is the same because Pacquiao can keep throwing punches for 12 or more straight rounds if he has to. I know Pacquiao is faster than Williams, but Williams doesn’t really need to move around much because of his height and reach.
Mosley should be the only one that can handle Williams. Mosley has fought many times at 154 and doesn’t have trouble making that weight. Cotto and Mayweather haven’t really fought at that weight. When Mayweather fought Oscar, the height was the only advantage for Oscar, and it wasn’t much. As for Williams, the height, reach, and power that he has will be too much for Mayweather and Cotto.
But you know what surprises me, Williams wants to stay in the welterweight division. He keeps complaining that Mosley, Cotto, Mayweather, and now Pacquiao don’t want to fight him. Yet, he stays. How odd is that. Well, he knows that the big names are in the welterweight division and he wants to make a name for himself by fighting the guys in that division. He knows he’s naturally larger than they are, but yet he wants to fight them all. Why doesn’t he move up and beat Chad Dawson and all those other guys? If he moves up and makes a name for himself, then maybe he will be chased. But as for now, he hasn’t sparked any interest. He’s only managed to get the attention of a few boxing fans in comparison to the other 4. I really don’t think the other fighters are scared of him. I really think that they’d rather fight someone who is almost equal in comparison.
Honestly, I think that Paul Williams will never be taken seriously as a welterweight mainly because of his height. People will start taking him seriously, as a champion, if he moves up and starts taking out bigger guys, whether they are the best or not. Taking out smaller guys, whether they’re the best or not, will never really prove anything. Just imagine if Oscar beat Pacquiao. Would Oscar be considered a true champ or a bully? How would Paul Williams look if he had Pacquiao move up to 147, which he can’t, and beats the crap out of him? The first thing most people would say is “Pick on someone your own size. Why are you making small guys move up to fight you?” I guess his height is his curse in the welterweight division.
I think Williams is a freak of nature and a match up nightmare for the top welters but he is not unbeatable…Quintana beat him. To be fair, he looked overtrained or drained but whose fault was that? And yes, he destroyed him in the return but the bluprint may have been laid down.
Williams will have problems making 147 because he is just too tall to carry that properly and still be strong. he also can’t keep jumping between 147 and 160 cuz it will hurt him on an overall basis. It is unfortunate that no one wants to fight him and I agree that Duran, Leonard, Hearns, Hagler & Benitez would have fought him. Those guys wanted to prove they were the best and did not worry about a 0 on their record.
Honestly, if I was Pacman, I would not fight him because he is too big. If Pacman called out guys at 126, people would be mad. Williams called out Floyd a few years back but Floyd went deaf. Say what you want, the only one who accepted was Margarito and he got badly outworked although he matched up very well in size etc.
If Williams is smart he would move to Jr Middle, Middle and then Super. He could eventually fight as high as Cruiser when he gets older. That will comparable to Pac’s climb from 106 but recall that Pac is a small man and already moved almost 40 lbs. Both are so good that they had no choice if they wanted to fight the best.
In a sense, Williams reminds me of Hagler in the 70′s. He was too good, southpaw and very rough so he too was avoided. Unfortunately too, Williams is not that well known so people like Floyd do not think it is not worth the risk to fight him. That’s why today’s fighters do not get rated as highly as old fighters. They are not warriors!
I’ve been around boxing for 35 years and you would never hear a fighter say “he’s too tall or his arms are too long”. Years ago Leonard, Hearns, Duran and Cuevez would have fought Williams. Those guys truly wanted ton fight and prove who was the best. Now fighters want to boast and say they are the best but aren’t willing to fight the best, plus you have some greedy ass promoters looking out for the interest of the promotional company and not the fighter. How can the media name some one pound 4 pound and he won’t accept valid challenges?
they dont fight williams for the same reason williams wont fight clottey
hes to tall, why doesnt he pick on someone his own size, like hopkins or let him ko jones he is a freakin joke!
may be because he is a foot taller then all of them