By Abbas Dadhiwala: After having watched Danny Williams last fight against Big John McDermott, I wasn’t at all surprised that Danny got the decision from the judges. Although it was a very close call, despite being on the end of very dubious refereeing and having been deducted three points, he somehow came through this – like he has been coming through with a never say die attitude throughout his career.

After Williams turned professional in 1995, he immediately started to dismantling opponents, building up an impressive record of 15-0 with 12 knockouts, and looked to be a future World Champion in the making. So when he stepped up in class and fought Julius Francis, Williams wasn’t ready and lost by a lopsided 12-round decision.

After Francis vacated the Commonwealth title, Williams defeated Harry Senior in a very close fight by split decision and won the title for the first time in his career. After a string of knockout victories, Williams faced Mark Potter for his Commonwealth title and the vacant British belt in October 2000. In what was a dramatic fight, Williams came out on top and knocked out Potter with a sweet left uppercut in the 6th round. Williams dislocated his right arm earlier in the fight, and it worsened as the fight wore on, and by the 6th round, his right arm was literally hanging to his side. I remember thinking to myself, ‘why is this guy not throwing in the towel, why is he not giving up, and why a doctor isn’t stopping the fight?’ But this sort of never say die attitude reminds me of Liverpool Football Club, which is the team I follow very passionately. When 40,000 fans are swaying to the tune of “You’ll never walk alone,” Liverpool shows that they have the same never Say Die Attitude that maybe no other Football Team in the world can match.

Williams is a devout Muslim and takes the religion very seriously and prays five times. After a fight was arranged with South African southpaw Corrie Sanders, Danny withdrew citing the reason that it coincided with the month of Ramadan. He has battled back against adversity and prevailed many times, none more so that the fight against Mike Tyson in July 2004. In the first round, Williams was all over the place as Tyson hit him with huge bombs. It looked embarrassingly over for Danny but he came through that storm, and finished Tyson off in the 4th round, in one of the greatest British boxing victories in of all time. This paved the way for his world title shot against Vitali Klitschko. Williams fought valiantly and showed a lot of heart and courage, but due to him being overweight at the time, he was never really in the fight and was eventually stopped in the 8th round of a one-sided fight.

Williams has had defeats in which he has been beaten convincingly, like for instance against Sinan Samil Sam and Audley Harrison. After the defeat by Harrison, a 3rd round TKO loss in December 2006, it looked as if the curtain had been on William’ career. However, he got himself in shape and kicked all the Mr. Kipling cakes off his diet and defeated Scott Gammer by a 9th round TKO in March 2007 to again win the British Heavyweight title. Three fights later, Williams traveled to Spain to fight Konstantin Airich, and defeated him in an exciting 7th round TKO victory.

For me, Danny remains a fighter with tremendous potential, but maybe his love of Kipling’s finest has been his downfall, as he, at times, has come in overweight for some of his fights which has affected his performances on those occasions. Danny is a true warrior and a gentleman and never has a bad word to say against any of his fellow boxers. Danny Williams is a true people’s champion.