Williams vs. Ishida: A Fan’s Prediction

By Boxing News - 01/05/2012 - Comments

Image: Williams vs. Ishida: A Fan’s PredictionBy Jimmy M: Next month on February 18, Paul Williams will face off against Nobuhiro Ishida. This is a fight that I am actually looking forward to seeing. This is a fight of two equally sized opponents, as far as height goes anyway.

Paul Williams, a 6’1” foot tall lanky boxer, is known for his height and ability to throw countless numbers of punches in a single round. Nobuhiro Ishida, although less known amongst casual boxing fans, is still a force to be reckoned with, with his slick movement, hand speed and annoying jab. These two fighters, put together, can bring fourth a very entertaining fight. But it can also have it’s boring sides. WIlliams and Ishida both tall and lanky fighters can also make it into a wrestling match. Their respected style of fighting and long arms can intertwine like two toy springs going at it. Let’s take a look at how these two fighters match up in the ring.

Paul Williams at 6’1” and an arm reach of 82”, according to boxrec.com, is a good fighter that can throw a myriad of punches. This ability helped Paul Williams beat Erislandy Lara in a controversial Majority decision (but hey, a wins a win). But his offense is not alway his best defense, at least against slick boxers. In his fight against Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams showed that he is a one dimensional fighter. When showing Williams footwork and angles, Martinez made it easy to make Williams miss and like that they say in boxing, “ you have make him pay for missing!”. But you can’t hit Williams without having some repercussion. Williams, although gets hit a lot, has the rare talent of rolling punches (somewhat at least) and coming back without hesitation with a flurry of punches. This helped in beating Martinez in his first fight. Using Quintana’s method in beating Williams is also good, but I don’t think Ishida is short enough to keep his head in Williams chest all night. There really is not much to say about Williams and his style except that he gets hit a lot and also does a lot if hitting and it’s easy to make him miss. One dimensional style isn’t a bad thing. Hey! it gets the job done, 40 out of 42 times. If Ishida can make Paul Williams miss, and I’m sure he can, Ishida should be able to win. Not in the fashionable way that Martinez did in his second fight against Willams, but still, a win. Oh yeah, almost forgot! Ishida can win if he can pull the trigger when the opportunity strikes.

Ishida is really good at using his jab, he can jab all night. The thing with using his jab all night is this; Ishida doesn’t strike with his power punches frequently enough. In the fight against the older brother of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Rigoberto Alvarez, Ishida did a very good job in using his jab. But when the opportunity knocked, he failed to set up his punches after the jab. He fought a good fight against Alvarez but lost, in what some call a controversial decision. But if Ishida would have thrown more power punches after 2 or 3 jabs, it would have been an easy night for him. In my opinion, if Williams can easily counter over or step to the side and then counter Ishida’s jab, Williams will be able to steal most rounds, I think I am going to go as far as saying a KO in the later rounds (Ishida has a strong chin). Nobuhiro Ishida is a very slick fighter and able to dodge punches really well. As we all saw in the Kirkland fight, Ishida is hard to hit. but he does have a flaw in his movements. When attacking, Ishida tends to go in too fast and smother his opponent, as seen in the Alvarez fight (although, I have to admit he improved in the Kirkland fight). If Williams can take a step back back or move to the side (that’s if his side movements improved during training) when Ishida is coming in, Williams can make Ishida miss and you guessed it!, make him pay. Ishida’s power, if we can call it that, isn’t well, that powerful. He has 9 KOs in his 24 victories. Therefore, Ishida’s power shouldn’t be an obstacle for Williams. Because of this fact, Williams doesn’t have to give much respect. Take punches keep coming in, take punches keep coming is what Paul Williams game plan will most likely be (like always huh).

These two fighters in the ring will most likely be a see-saw fight, with Williams end closer to the mulch (meaning he will have the advantage). Some rounds will be boring in my opinion, as Ishida’s urge to rush and smother his opponents and Williams lack of agility will turn them in to a wrestling match. Overall, this fight should be an entertaining fight. Both fighter’s are around the same size and their style’s are made for each other (except for the lack of power in Ishida, but its enough to make a head snap back). Williams ability to hit and get hit is always entertaining. Ishida’s slick movement and fast hand speed should call for some ooos! and ahhs!. Along with some zzzs! when it comes to the grappling. Overall a good fight that boxing fan’s will enjoy. Well hope you enjoyed my article!



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