I just found this article, talks about Cleveland Williams, why he was shot, about him ‘hearing voices’ which was why his fight with Dick Richardson was postponed, and about him apparently getting arrested for attacking his girlfriend with a meat cleaver. https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-history/who-shot-cleveland-williams/149446
The whole "message from beyond" thing is greatly overblown really. Williams pulled out of his rematch with Dick Richardson because he was ill (or at any rate because he felt ill - it was never really established what, if anything, was wrong with him). But while speaking to the press after coming out of Williams's bedroom, secretary of the BBBC Teddy Waltham said, "It is all a mysterious affair. Williams put his right hand to his head, rolled his eyes upwards and said, 'I've got message from beyond. I'm not well enough to fight.'" Williams later denied saying any such thing, but assuming he actually did say it, it sounds exactly the kind of nonsensical ramblings a sick man would come up with while emerging from a fever dream. What's less well known is that the fight wasn't initially cancelled, just postponed for a week. But when Williams tried to go out and do some roadwork he quickly announced that he was still sick and that's when the fight was called off. But of course, "Boxer pulls out of fight due to illness" isn't news. "Boxer pulls out of fight due to message from beyond" is a much better headline, so that's the version that made its way back to the US.
