Danny Williams

By Erik Schmidt: The young Russian heavyweight Konstantin Airich (9-1-1, 8 KOs), who gave an excellent account of himself last night, dropping veteran Danny Williams (39-6, 31 KOs) once and hurting him several other times in the fight requiring standing eight counts on two occasions. However, after appearing to run out of gas in the 4th round, Airich was eventually badly beaten by the powerful Williams, who knocked him down twice before the fight was eventually stopped in the 7th round by Airich’s corner. I thought it odd at the time that a fighter of Airich’s youth and talent would abruptly fade so quickly after dominating the first several rounds with such ease.

My questions were answered today when it was announced by Airich’s promoter Ahmet Öne that the Russian fighter had broken his left hand in the 3rd round while delivering huge shots to the head of Williams. The injury essentially turned Airich into a one-armed fighter, making him an easy prey for the clever veteran Williams to take advantage of his weakness and stop him four rounds later. After the fight, Airich, 29, was taken to a nearby hospital where it was discovered that his left hand had been broken in the fight.

By Aaron Klein: In one of the worst refereed fights I’ve ever witnessed, British heavyweight Danny Williams (39-6, 31 KOs) stopped Konstantin Airech (9-1-1, 8 KOs) in the 7th round of a scheduled 8-round bout at the Pabellon Lasearrem Baracaldo, in Pais Vasco, Spain tonight. The fight, a strange one, saw both fighters trade knockdowns, with Williams down in the 4th and Airich down in the 5th round and 6th rounds. Besides that, Williams received two standing eight counts in the 3rd round, along with two separate point deductions for low blows, once in the 2nd and another time in the 5th.

For his part, Airch received a strange standing eight count in the 2nd round, after getting hit with a left hook that was clearly low. The strange part about it, though, is that the referee Alfredo Garcia Perez upon giving the standing eight count to Airich, he then immediately spun around and deducted a point from Williams for a low blow, which would seem to have nullified the standing eight count as far as I can tell. Airich was taking sustained punishment, already having been knocked down earlier in the round, in the 6th round, with his back against the ropes when suddenly the round ended with 1:28 left on the clock.

Former Mike Tyson conqueror Danny Williams failed in his shot at the International Boxing Federation Intercontinental heavyweight title on Saturday night when his bout with Russian Oleg Platov was stopped in the 4th round due to a accidental headbutt. At the point of the stoppage, however, Williams was punishing Platov and appeared to have him on the verge of a knockout. In the first round, Platov blitzed Williams with an all out assault, hitting him with a huge flurry of big shots and wobbling him as he was trapped up against the ropes.

However, Platov soon punched himself out near the midpoint of the round, allowing Williams to take his turn landing huge bombs. As the round ended, Platov was hurt from several big shots but escaped without going down. In the second round, both fighters took turns landing tremendous shots with both of them being stunned at points during the round. However, Platov had a huge cut opened up over his left eye, which the referee ruled was caused by a headbutt.