HBO reportedly still interested in Sergio Martinez-Paul Williams III

By Boxing News - 07/21/2011 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Even with Paul Williams having been knocked completely out cold against Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO’s) two fights again and looking very poor in a recent questionable 12 round majority decision over Erislandy Lara on July 9th of this month, HBO is reportedly still interested in showing Sergio Martinez vs. Paul Williams III, according to news from Sportsillustrated.cnn.com.

The third fight between Martinez and Williams hinges on how well Williams does in his next fight whoever that is. Williams won’t be fighting another southpaw that’s for sure. He’s struggled against the southpaw Martinez and Lara in his last two fights and shown to have no clue in either of them how to deal with a straight left hand.

Now, Williams will be going back to fighting orthodox fighters to try for a change of luck. It obviously won’t help him get ready for a third fight with Martinez, but then again Williams won’t get a third fight if he gets battered by southpaw fighters. Williams needs to face someone good enough to where he can change some minds of boxing fans.

Martinez doesn’t think that Williams has anything left, saying to Sports Illustrated “He’s not at the same level he used to be. He looked like he was affected by my knockout. It’s very sad but he’s not the same. I don’t think he is there anymore. I don’t think he has the killer instinct.”

Martinez could be right. Williams doesn’t look to be the same fighter he was going into his second fight with him, and the brutal knockout loss does seem to have taken something away from Williams’ game. But what’s really strange is that HBO would be interested in a third fight between Williams and Martinez. You would think that after how badly Williams fought against Lara and how he was knocked completely out against Martinez last time that HBO would say no to a third fight. Maybe they think it would be a fight that would be good for ratings. I don’t see it as a good fight for boxing fans unless you’re into watching someone get pummeled and knocked out badly.

Martinez faces Darren Barker on October 1st in his next fight. This should be a fairly competitive fight for six or seven rounds, but it’s going to likely end with Martinez knocking the over-matched Barker out by midpoint in the fight.



Comments are closed.