Williams vs. Wright on April 11th

By Boxing News - 02/06/2009 - Comments

wright353523232By Jim Dower: WBO light middleweight and former welterweight champion Paul Williams (36-1, 27 KOs) will face former light middleweight and middleweight champion Ronald “Winky” Wright (51-4-1, 25 KOs) on April 11th in a non-title bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Williams, 27, has been moving around the different weight classes in the past year after finding it hard to get bouts against the top welterweights in the division, many who were reluctant to fight him due to his swarming style of fighting and his high punch output.

Williams recently defeated Verno Phillips by an 8th round stoppage in November in the interim WBO light middleweight title. At the higher weight, Williams looked good, showing good power and still punching with the high work rate that he was known for in the welterweight division.

His work rate was down slightly, though, but still higher than the average light middleweight fighter. Instead of using his 6’1″ height to fight from the outside, the southpaw Williams chose to mix it up with Phillips on the inside, battering him hard to the body throughout the fight and hurting him with shots.

Wright, for his part, has been inactive since losing a 12-round unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins in July 2007. Wright, also a southpaw, hasn’t been very active in the past three years, fighting only three times during that stretch against Jermain Taylor, Ike Quartey and Hopkins.

The bout against Tayor, fought in June 2006, ended up being a 12-round draw. Wright needs this fight, because he’s lost a lot of valuable time in his career in the past few years. Wright holds wins over Shane Mosley (twice), Felix Trinidad, Bronco McKart, Keith Mullings and Robert Frazier as his most notable wins of his 19 year pro career.

Known for his compact defensive style and high guard, Wright is more of technician, a defensive artist who rarely gets hit by his opponent. At the same time, he’s an excellent counter puncher who makes his opponents pay for any shots they want to land. He has an excellent jab, right hook and straight left hand that he likes to use against his opponents.

Against sluggers, Wright does especially well, taking advantage of their wide open offense to make them pay when they come in to land shots. Wright completely neutralized Trinidad in May 2005, beating him by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision and sending Trinidad into retirement.

Wright used his jab constantly in the fight, pounding Trinidad each time he would try to get in close to land a power shot. By the end of the fight, Trinidad was no longer even trying to engage and was merely staying on the outside, taking jab after jab to the face.

Williams may be making a mistake in fighting Wright, because his style seems all wrong for a brilliant technician like Wright. Williams isn’t much of a boxer, tending to try and overwhelm his opponents with punches at close range. That’s not a good thing going into a fight with Wright, who does well against these types of fighters. The way to beat Wright is through movement, fast flurries and clinching, which is how Hopkins was able to defeat him. Williams fights nothing like this and will be right there for Wright to land his jabs and counter punches all night long. I see another loss for Williams.



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