By Jason Kim: Former WBO welterweight champion Paul Williams (39-2, 27 KO’s) is looking to be matched tough in his first fight since his brutal 2nd round knockout loss to Sergio Martinez last November in 2010. Williams, 29, was knocked unconscious by the hard left hand that Martinez tagged him with. Normally a fighter that suffers a bad knockout like that usually takes it easy for a while by taking on one or two softer opponents before stepping it up against tough fighters, but Williams is looking to take on some fairly tough targets in Nobuhiro Ishida (23-6-2, 8 KO’s) or Deandre Latimore (22-3, 17 KO’s).

These guys are good fighters and can punch a little, and if Williams’ chin is compromised in any way by his knockout loss to Martinez, then we could be seeing Williams getting knocked out again. This is a risky move by Williams and obviously it’s being done to try and make boxing fans forget about his loss to Martinez.

Whether Williams beats one of these guys are not, it’s not going to make fans forget about Williams’ loss to Martinez. It’s going to take time for fans to forget about that defeat. Williams will have to keep winning for a while and beating quality fighters and showing that he can take a punch. Ishida is coming of of a 1st round knockout win over James Kirkland in April and he’d probably love to get a chance to test Williams’ chin. We could see Ishida blitz Williams the same way he did Kirkland and take him out with a flurry of shots. Williams isn’t the fastest of fighters and he is very hittable. By the time he has a chance to react, he may be on his way down for another knockout loss.