A deeper dive on Ike Williams' greatness.

Having turned professional as a 16 year old, Ike Williams would learn his trade while on the job, like many boxers of the era. He would face his first significant opponent, Freddie Archer, while only having 14 fights, and barely being 18 years old. Archer would go on to become a top 5 Welterweight contender in years to come, by beating contenders like Norman Rubio and Ralph Zannelli, as well as even Beau Jack and Fritzie Zivic. He also had double the amount of fights Williams had up to that point, so the younger, smaller, and less experienced Williams would come up short. A while later, Ike would manage to defeat a future top 5 Featherweight contender, Willie Roache. Half a dozen fights later, and he would gain a win over a future #1 rated Welterweight, the then undefeated Gene Burton. 4 months later, he held a win over Bobby McQuillar, who might have been a contender for a brief while, having defeated Sandy Saddler.

It was around this time, that Ike would start consinstently facing opposition of a higher level. He managed to twice defeat the #6 rated Featherweight, Maurice ''Lefty'' LaChance. Then, after a win over a former top 10 Featherweight contender, Jimmy Hatcher, he would get stopped in the last rounds of the bout by the #3 rated Lightweight, the NYSAC champion, Bob Montgomery. He would then stop the #10 rated Lightweight, Joey Peralta, in 9 rounds. Then after defeating the #8 rated Lightweight, Luther ''Slugger'' White, he would manage to defeat the #2 rated Lightweight, Sammy Angott, the former Lightweight champion of the world. He would proceed to defeat Julie Kongon and Jimmy Hatcher, the former being a fringe contender and the latter being a former contender, and would then rematch Angott. It was a very closely contested fight, with Williams coming out victorious once more.

Then, he managed to KO the 27-1 Freddie Dawson in 4 rounds. Dawson would go on to be a longtime top 3 Lightweight contender, and even had some good success at Welterweight. After destroying the almost contender worthy Johnny Green in 2 rounds, he would face the #4 rated Lightweight, Willie Joyce, but would just barely come up short, losing a close fight. Then he defeated the #9 rated Lightweight Lulu Constantino, one of Willie Pep's early rivals, as well as Dave Castiloux, who was a top 3 ranked contender a mere 3 years prior in the division. He would rematch Willie Joyce, but this time, he would be victorious, winning the fight in a competitive but clear manner. Between this and another scheduled rematch between them, he managed to KO Maxie Berger, a former Welterweight contender, in 4 rounds. In the third fight between them, Joyce managed to do to Williams what Williams did to him in the previous one, managing to win a competitive but clear fight.

He managed to get a portion of the championship, specifically the NBA title, against Juan Zurita, whom he would knock out in 2, prior to losing to his rival, Willie Joyce, in another incredibly close match yet again. He would rematch his early career victim, Gene Burton, who was now far more experienced than before, now having 27 fights under his belt, but he still wouldn't have the goods to beat Ike. Williams was willing to rematch another rival, that being Sammy Angott, but this time, he would be unfortunate to fall victim to a 6th round stoppage loss, in what was a minor upset. He then had a draw with Wesley Mouzon, in what was clearly not one of his better nights, but he would manage to put a good show. Mouzoun would retire early at the age of 19 due to a detached retina, and would later go on to train and manage Dwight Muhammad Qawi.

Ike would manage to defeat the future NBA Welterweight champion, the currently #3 rated Lightweight, Johnny Bratton. He then had another rematch with a fighter he had held a win over, this time being another dissapointing draw with the #8 rated Freddie Dawson. He would the proceed to defend his NBA title with a win over the #10 rated Enrique Bolanos, defeat the #6 rated Bobby Ruffin, and the #7 rated Lightweight, Ronnie James. He would have a third fight with Gene Burton, but this time, Burton would be victorious, by this time he had faced similar names to Ike, and wasn't as inexperienced as in their prior bouts.

Ike would go on to defeat the #4 rated Welterweight, Ralph Zannelli, and the #2 rated Welterweight, Tippy Larkin. Then, after almost 100 bouts, he would finally become the Lightweight king by defeating Bob Montgomery, by stopping him in the 6th round, all but murdering him. He would also later beat the #6 rated Welterweight, Tony Pellone. Back to Lightweight he went, and managed to defeat the #3 rated Freddie Dawson, prior to beating the #9 rated Welterweight, Livio Mineli. Then, he had arguably his greatest victory, the one over the future Welterweight champion of the world, the great Kid Gavilan. Many thought Gavilan deserved the win in what was a close fight in which he was floored, but it was arguable that Williams did indeed deserve the nod. The fact that a Lightweight managed to drop a future Welterweight champion, arguably one of the 5 greatest ever, and maybe even be deserving of the victory, is astonishing.

Williams would then have a great winning streak over his fellow Lightweight contemporaries. Defeating the #2 rated Rudy Cruz, the #1 rated Enrique Bolanos, the #5 rated Welterweight and former NYSAC lightweight champ, Beau Jack, the #8 rated Jesse Flores, and Johnny Bratton once more. He would have a rematch with the #1 rated Welterweight, Kid Gavilan, this time being in the wrong side of the close decision. Another rematch would transpire, and he would once again lose in a slightly less competitive contest. He would continue dominating his division against the #7 rated Enrique Bolanos, the #3 rated Freddie Dawson, the #4 rated Welterweight Johnny Bratton, the #7 rated Sonny Boy West, who was a substitute for Bernard Docusen, the #1 rated John L Davis, and the #5 rated Welterweight, Lester Felton.

However, this is where Ike would start slipping. At Welterweight, he would lose against the #2 rated George Costner, and went 1-1 both with the #10 rated Charley Salas, and the #9 rated Joe Miceli. He would manage to hold wins over the #9 rated Lightweight Rudy Cruz once more, as well as Ralph Zannelli and Beau Jack twice more, the latter win being the last one of his career, after a draw they had in another one of their fights. But in between, he would lose to Joe Mileci again, he would lose his title against the #4 rated Lightweight, jimmy Carter, and come up short against the #5 rated Welterweight Gil Turner and Chuck Davey, as well as the future Welterweight champion, Carmen Basilio.

A brilliant career with highs and lows, in a Lightweight division that had not been so deep with talent since the days of Benny Leonard, and arguably never would again. He managed to cement himself as the man in that division, and had some some excellent success at Welterweight, even managing to defeat one of its all time greats.