By Dan Ambrose: Two division contender Nobuhiro Ishida (24-6-2, 9 KO’s) will be looking to finish what Erislandy Lara started in giving junior middleweight contender Paul Williams (40-2, 27 KO’s) a real pounding in their fight on February 18th at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Williams, 30, has looked to be on the slide since he struggled to beat Sergio Martinez by a 12 round decision in December 2009. Williams, #7 WBC, #3 WBA, #13 WBA, #6 WBO, appeared to lose that fight but was given a very questionable decision in a fight that saw both Williams and Martinez hit the canvas in the opening round.

Williams looked bad against Kermit Cintron in his next fight, the fight in which Cintron dove out of the ring in the 4th resulting in the fight being halted after he injured his shoulder during the fall. Williams then was then stopped in the 2nd round by Martinez in their rematch in November 2010.

Williams was knocked cold in that fight. He came back against Erislandy Lara last July, and took a terrible beating in winning another questionable decision, this one even more questionable than Williams’ win over Martinez. Williams looked totally shot against Lara and nothing like what he used to earlier in his career.

The loss was blamed on Williams having problems with southpaws. On February 18th, Williams won’t have to worry about facing another southpaw, but he will have to worry about facing Ishida, a fighter just as tall as him at 6’1″ with a bigger frame.

This has a recipe of another beating for Williams. If he’s indeed a shot fighter, Ishida will further expose that by going after Williams and unloading on him early with a flurry of shots to test Williams’ chin. Ishida, ##10 WBC, #2 WBA, stopped a flabby James Kirkland by a 1st round TKO last April in an impressive three knockdown performance. In Ishida’s last fight, he knocked out Edson Espinosa in the 1st round.