By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez 45-2-2, 24 KO’s) will be defending his title against Paul Williams (39-1, 27 KO’s) in a big showdown on HBO that takes place at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey. The fight will give Martinez a chance to gain revenge for a questionable 12 round majority decision loss he suffered against Williams last year in December. Martinez did well against Williams for most of the fight until tiring in the last three rounds and losing the fight. This time, Martinez is going to have to stay on the move more and avoid becoming stationary in the last part of the fight and allowing Williams to be able to plant and throw.

Williams throws a lot of punches, but he can’t fight worth a lick against fighters that move, and he’s a poor mover himself. Martinez clearly had Williams’ number in the first nine rounds. The judging for the fight was way off, however. One of them scored the fight 119-110 for Williams, while another had it 115-113 for Williams. Perhaps the only one that got the fight scored correctly was the third judge, who scored it 114-114. That was the closest to what actually took place in the fight. I had Martinez edging it, but I think a draw would be fair too.

Martinez likes to stay on the move, landing shots and then getting away without getting hit. He does a great job of hitting and getting away without taking counter shots. Williams is more of the type of fighter that likes to stalk and throw massive amounts of shots. His defense is pretty much nonexistent but he gets away with it because of the amount of punches he throws. Williams, 6’2”, doesn’t use his height or his long reach to dominate his opponents the way he should. Instead, he’s like a taller version of Antonio Margarito with perhaps a little bit more hand speed and a slightly higher work rate. At one time, Margarito was able to crank up his punch output as high as Williams, but he’s slowed down. Williams can still throw a respectable 80 to 100 punches per round, but he doesn’t throw 100 on a consistent basis anymore now that he’s moved up in weight.

Williams often gets cut, as he has a lot of scar tissue around his eyes. Martinez needs to focus on throwing a lot of head shots to get the blood flowing to try and give Williams vision problems in this fight. For his part, Williams needs to keep on top of Martinez and get him to exchange the way Martinez was forced into last time they fought.