Can Paul Williams bring popularity back to American Boxing?

With his size advantage he should be knocking out everyone he faces. Calzaghe was facing guys supposedly bigger, Mikkel Kessler, and fighters who are supposedly stronger, Jeff Lacy, and beating them decisively in their primes.

 

No....none of this is why he's not more popular in the US. As Uncle Oden said, it takes time.

 

im not saying that.. him beating winky automatically makes him a star

what im saying is .. it put him on the map in the minds of the boxing community and the next fight will have MUCH MORE following

i mean how many true stars does boxing really have?

pacman who has defeated a handful of p4p guys
floyd who gets fed to you by the media
oscar who is a mix of pac & floyd
some of the latino guys have drawing power... because their respective countryment come to represent for them
pavlik has the great white hype thing and a bit of media as well

i mean its hard to be a super star in this sport... nobody is able to fill up mandalay bay over night... its a gradual process and you have to get names on your resume and keep winning.... paul is on the right track at this point but all im saying is he is definitely on the map in the boxing community..

when he wasnt before because people thought he was an accident waiting to happen..... **** some people still think he is an accident waiting to happen

yeah but the cult following he SHOULD HAVE isnt there because of the fights i listed.... every up and coming fighter has some sort of cult following but paul doesnt because every one was waiting for him to lose... but the winky fight kind of confirmed him as a legitamate threat so the next time aroudn i think the fans will show... not in massive #'s but more than before

 

Hatton?

I mean the thing you fail to realize is that you pretty much printed out basically right there.

-No charisma
-No outstanding fan base
-No amazing pride outside of the pro-USA crowd. Thing is how many euro MWs are out there that'll come fight him in the US?
-He's from Akron and not a big city with a big fan base willing to follow him.

He is on the right track..but let's not act like this is first time on HBO.

He's been on HBO as THE showcase fighter about 5 times now. At some point it goes from "taking time" to getting close to the reality that he might not be a big name fighter.

Some people are hard to please. I like Paul a lot but I'm willing to cope with the fact that he's not a big star and there's a good chance he might never be.

 

There is no doubt that Paul Williams is a tough match-up for any fighter. Due to the weight classes he fights in, he has an obvious height advantage and his punch output is always going to be tough to overcome.

But, c'mon guys...this is a fighter that has already been taken to school. Did everyone forget about that? This is not an undefeated fighter we're talking about. This isn't just a lucky one-hit KO either.

He was schooled by Quintana and hit flush a lot. He was cut over both eyes and beaten soundly by a smaller, craftier fighter.

If it was a fluke, Paul should give Quintana the rubber match to prove it.

 

Cult followings are small by definition. He has one, just not one to your liking. And no, everyone is NOT waiting for him to lose. If anything, it seems on ESB he has more who respect him then outright hate him, which there don;t seem to be many of.

If some people aren't sold on Paul, it has nothing to do with hate. Like I listed in another thread, his best three wins are"

1. Winky
2. Margarito
3. Phillips

And then from there it gets way thin.

 

so your saying that.... if he beat bhop, shane mosley, then kelly pavlik in that order... he wouldnt be boxing next big thing?

i think were not communicating to each other...


my point= ignore as many times he has been on hbo.... he has fought sharmba mitchell (a old guy who was mis matched) antonio margarito ( a fight he supposedly lost) carlos quintana ( a fight he lost) verno phillips (a fight against a supposedly washedup vet) winky wright ( a fight against another supposed washed up vet yet his most impressive performance)

all the fans he should have are hesitant to be fans because he is blowing guys out but doesnt really have a marquee win.. this winky fight is the first step in the right direction

and your really underestimating the push of the media.... when the media gets behind a fighter with advertisements, espn interviews and stuff like that.. it really does wonders

 

Who are you asking this ridiculous question too? :huh

This is just too whiny.... :-(

especially the part about the media.

 

i was speaking to arriba....

im not saying i expect the media to put paul williams all over the tv... cause i dont and i know they wont... only 5-6 guys in boxing get that... oscar-floyd-manny-hatton-roy-joe c .... nobody else gets that tyep of coverarge because the machines behind these lesser fighters are scared to lose money by using heavy promotion....

 

B-Hop isn't a big boxing star. I know we like to continually pretend that he is for the sake of argument but consider that his last three fights: Vs Wright had about 300,000 buys tops, He couldn't sell out in the Mandalay Bay against Joe Calzaghe (and there was more Calzaghe fans there than Hopkins fans) and he and Pavlik pretty much forced HBO to drop their current monthly PPV stretch because the fight did so poorly.

As per beating Mosley and Pavlik, Pavlik won't help him at all. Considering that Pavlik is currently off HBO and by the time he fights AGAIN on HBO, it'll be his first HBO fight on cable since June of last year, it won't help him.

And no, he won't be the next big thing if he beats those guys. He's not charismatic enough and he doesn't have a big hometown support.

You're just too scared to even FATHOM the notion that Paul Williams might not be jesus christ with a goatee. Some guys don't become big stars...so what makes Williams so special?

That has nothing to do with anything man. My point wasn't who he faught (and beating "The most ducked man ever" and Winky Wright is enough to make anyone a star) it's the fact that he's been HBO's pet project for a while now outside of a short excursion to Showtime.

Except Paul Williams isn't marketable. He doesn't look scary, he's not charismatic enough to carry himself like a star and when he DOES try to get charismatic, he basically comes off as fake.

Take it from someone who does work in the marketing world (unfortunately), There's more to selling someone than "how does he fight?"

 

Cool..still a ridiculous question.

Those guys get that because they are proven ticket sellers. Key word: PROVEN. If Williams was even a regional draw (like Pavlik, Mesi, Spadafora, Bute in their areas), HBO or another network might be inclined to water those seeds. But they place their cards on the actual sellers, not the "maybes.."

 

Right. HBO started losing interest in Jermain Taylor once he stopped selling out in places at/around Arkansas. Once they realized that he couldn't even sell out his locale, they started trying to find new guys to prop up as the MW king. They had their eyes on Miranda but Pavlik took it from him.

Paul Williams doesn't even draw a huge live gate. Remember that fight on Versus with him, Arreola and Andrew Ward? With like 150 people there?

Williams isn't from a big city that they can market him as...so that hurts him.

 

I don't think his style is too crowd pleasing honestly. Throws a lot of punches but a lot have nothing on them. He's a good fighter though.

 

is that question unrealistic though?

bernard hopkin could be pw's next fight in the summer or fall
shane could find himself with no opponent and either be forced to retire or fight paul for big money after beating bhop (if he could get that far)
and pavlik is busy with mora (and supposedly aa after mora)
so i mean....

but yeah they are proven ... but its give and take sometimes..... there are some guys who the big wigs should take risks on ... im not saying pw is one of them but the margarito cotto fight for example.... or shane & margarito.... if they put money money and belief into those fights.. they could have had super results

 

And if Williams and his team only look for the BIG NAMES as they put it, it will hurt them more in the long run.

Williams is not above guys like Mayorga, Santos, Forrest, Dzinziruk, Clottey, or even Kirkland and Sergio Martinez. Yet he seems to think these guy are not in his league and therefore, should not be options.

Before he thinks he should fight Calzaghe or Hopkins, maybe he should try some of those guys.